What You Don't Know
by Takeno no Hikari
Summary: When Sasuke confronts Naruto at age eight about his mask the two save eachother from loneliness' dark embrace, but what happens when power overrides all thought? Rewrite of I Thought I Told You NaruxTemarix?
1. As The Mask Falls

A/N: This is a rewrite of my first posted Fanfiction, I Thought I Told You. This version will feature major edits and will bare little similarity to the original (Even the pairing isn't the same (However the overall storyline will be the same)) although I may post a new chapter for the Original occasionally (but not until I get over my hate of Sakura).

_**Attention:**_ This will be Third-person Limited from Naruto's PoV. Also this version will be starting much earlier due to an idea I had but didn't feel like creating its own story for so I decided to implement it here. No it is not yaoi.

'_Thoughts'_

**Kyuubi**

Story

"Speech"

Disclaimer: This will be the only time I say this so listen closely (pulls out a megaphone) NO I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! (Everyone who leaned close is now deaf as the author laughs maniacally)

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What You Don't Know

Chapter 1: As the Mask Falls

Two eight year old boys exited the Konoha Shinobi Academy, the raven haired Uchiha trailing slightly behind the younger Uzumaki Naruto. The blonde spun around suddenly when Sasuke put a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Why?"

Naruto's faux grin faded to a surprised frown at the question before the shit eating grin reappeared, "Why what Sasuke-teme?" He asked dumbly, while inside he was wondering what the newly orphaned boy wanted.

People shot dirty looks at the two, namely Naruto, as they spoke, "Why do you _act_ like an idiot," Sasuke seethed, "Why act like a dobe when you can probably beat Kiba and me in taijutsu, I know you study more than Sakura, and there's no way _anyone_ can be as absolutely dismal at weapons as you, so why?"

Naruto was caught off guard by the question, _'Did he really see through me that easily?'_ Naruto wondered to himself, "Err Sasuke people are looking at us funny, maybe we should go somewhere else?" Naruto questioned when the glares finally got to him. Sasuke frowned but grabbed his victim's hand and dragged him towards the Uchiha District despite Naruto's demands to be let go. Naruto, however, quickly closed his mouth when the reached the gates that held the Uchiha fan as their insignia.

Sasuke lead Naruto further into the compound until they came to the main house. As they walked Naruto wondered how lonely he must get, living in a big house all by himself. Not to mention that he lived in the very same house where numerous of his relatives lay dead only months prior due to his traitorous brother. Sasuke sat down in a large armchair and Naruto sat opposite, idly thinking that it had probably been cleaned countless times in order to clean the blood out of it while something inside of him got excited about the amount of blood that had once covered this entire compound.

Sasuke's obsidian eyes seemed to be searching his soul as Naruto began to answer the question that he had been previously asked, "I act like an idiot because otherwise I fear what the villagers might do," Naruto stated simply and Sasuke looked confused at him.

"Why would the villagers care if you were an idiot or not? I mean I know that my parents never really liked you that much but Itachi-nii-san," Sasuke paused and a look of agony crossed his face, "always thought highly of you."

Naruto shrugged and Sasuke threw his arms up in frustration, an odd occurrence in and f itself, "I may not know why, but I can see the looks of hate and fear not to mention what they do to me sometimes during the Festival," Naruto's spiked hair fell suddenly and covered his face before he brushed it out of the way, "Kuso, lost control of my chakra again," he said absently, "Anyway, I can tell that they would probably try to kill me if I showed them that I could control my Chakra to such a degree," Naruto finished sadly and Sasuke sensed a subtle flow of chakra as Naruto's hair once again spiked up.

"How are you doing that?" Sasuke asked, fascinated by the display of control the blonde had to have in order to keep his hair spiked like he did.

"Eh, oh my hair," Naruto realized and decided that another person knowing wouldn't hurt, "Well when I first started going to the Academy my hair did it naturally, but eventually it started to fall in my face as it got longer. I also had horrible chakra control and massive amounts of chakra so I developed that to increase my control as well as get I out of my face," Naruto said proudly at having invented a control technique that was both useful outside and inside of battle, "So how did you figure it out Sasuke?" Naruto asked, glad to have been able to actually _talk_ to someone, even if it was about something so serious.

"You and I are alike, before I'll admit there was no way I could have figured out that you were acting but now that Itachi…" the last Uchiha trailed off, tears threatening to fall, the Uchiha swallowed a sob and continued, "now that Itachi destroyed the clan we both do the same thing, we hide."

Naruto stood, but smiled sadly due to his knowledge of just how painful the loneliness was, "I should ah probably be going now," Naruto whispered, unsure if it was okay to leave the boy alone, "maybe we can train together tomorrow or something," the blonde boy continued when the obsidian eyes of the Uchiha finally rose to meet his.

"Naruto, how do you do it?" Sasuke asked the blonde, "I've only been alone for a couple of months and yet I'm breaking down, how have you remained stable for so long?"

Naruto frowned and his eyes turned cold before he answered, "years of experience." Sasuke's eyes widened in shock at the venom that covered the words, "not that its any comfort, but you get used to it eventually." Naruto walked back the way that Sasuke had lead him and leaped upon the roofs before heading to his apartment.

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Deep blue eyes watched the door to the classroom constantly, searching for the raven haired boy that had confronted him yesterday about his act. The bell rang and Iruka-sensei began listing off names to see if the class was present, and yet the Uchiha still hadn't showed. Fingers drummed on the desk nervously, '_Would he tell anyone?'_ the blond wondered worriedly, if his act had been found out the villagers would kill him for sure. Once again Iruka was droning on in one of the pointless lectures on the founding of Konoha when Naruto made his decision, he quickly created a simple Bunshin and stalked along the back row toward the open window. The blonde stopped behind the sleeping Nara genius before realizing the boy wouldn't wake up and then threw himself outside.

_'Now if I was a possibly distraught Uchiha where would I be? '_Naruto wondered as his henge'd form walked down the streets of Konoha, _'Uchiha memorial, duh,'_ He scolded himself and quickly set off for the isolated area of Konoha that was constantly guarded by at least two chunin.

The monument itself was a pair of sharingan eyes with the name of the Uchiha clan circling in and out of the tomoes and line that connected them, in the center pupil of the right eye was the name Uchiha Fugaku, the clan's patriarch, and in the left was the name Uchiha Mikoto, his wife. Naruto put the chunin under a minor but powerful genjutsu and leaped the wall to the memorial. As expected Uchiha Sasuke was kneeling on the ground in front of it and incense was burning in front of him as he spoke. Naruto approached cautiously when the older boy stopped speaking. Naruto laid a comforting hand on the raven's shoulder when he noticed that he was crying, "Remember them, remember all they did for you and the good times you had. If you must then find your brother and make him pay for what he did, until then find a new family, find people you can care for the same way yours did you," Naruto advised with wisdom he shouldn't have, "If you want I've never had a family so I could…you know…take Itachi's place," the once again child-like boy suggested hopefully.

Sasuke wiped away the tears and choked down his sobs as he looked at the orange dressed boy, "why would you want to be _my_ friend, until yesterday we never even talked. And what do you mean make Itachi pay, he's too strong for me to fight," Sasuke demanded as tears fell freely down his face.

"If he's too strong then you just have to get stronger, Itachi may be powerful but I promise to help you beat him," Naruto exclaimed, "besides no one should feel the pain of loneliness, no matter what they've done loneliness is the last thing I would ever wish on anyone," the blonde grinned at his first 'brother' who couldn't help but smile back.

"Well if we're going to be brother we might as well both live at the Uchiha compound, that place could use a little bit of life," Sasuke suggested before bowing one last time to the memorial and heading out, his arm around Naruto's shoulder and the blonde's around his.

"You sure Sasuke? The villagers pro'ly won't agree," Naruto warned but his friend just shrugged and made a gesture as if to say 'so, who cares' and Naruto just went with it. As they walked into the Uchiha Compound neither boy remembered that neither had been at school for that entire day, both were to happy at the escape from the loneliness that had consumed them both in its dark embrace.

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Two boys with long hair, blonde and black each, walked toward the large building that was easily recognized as the Konohagakure Shinobi Academy. In the past two years both boys had changed a lot, Naruto no long bothered to keep his hair spiked using chakra and simply had most of what fell into his face tied back much in the same manner Itachi used to. In place of his old attire he now wore a blood red jacket with a black shirt underneath with fishnet mesh showing through, his pants were now baggy and black. On his right hand was a fingerless plated glove with the kanji for 'unbreakable'(1) carved onto the metal.

Sasuke's now had streaks of red in his shoulder-length hair. Where Naruto wore black and red he wore a blue jacket with the usual Uchiha fan on the back and a white undershirt, his pants, like Naruto's, were baggy but were also white. On his left hand was a fingerless plated glove with the kanji for 'guardian'(1) carved onto the metal.

The two were brothers, neither would do anything to harm the other unless in a duel and neither learned a jutsu without teaching it to the other. At first Sasuke hadn't understood just how far the village was willing to go to cause harm to his friend, but on the night of Naruto's birthday, mere months after they became friends, the village proved that the name 'Uchiha' meant nothing when it came to tormenting Uzumaki Naruto.

_**(Flashback Sasuke PoV)**_

Sasuke was walking around Konoha, the same way he had always done before his family had been killed, on October the Tenth. The Festival celebrating the Kyuubi's defeat was going in full and Naruto had run off earlier.

"Damn demon brat, he even has control over the last Uchiha. They're even living together now so we can't burn down the demon's home like we used to," he overhead and noticed that the comment was met with nods from the rest of the group. _They can't be talking about Naruto, can they? He did say they hated him but I didn't think he meant it,_ Sasuke wondered when he noticed his blonde friend was running down the streets. Sasuke saw him run down an ally while a group of villagers _and _Shinobi weren't far behind.

Sasuke hurried over and saw Naruto huddled in the center of the mob where screams of 'kill him' and 'make the demon pay' were heard. The villagers advanced on Naruto and Sasuke could only stare on in shock as they began to beat him and stab him, some of the Shinobi even used ineffective jutsu in their drunken state. Sasuke kept expecting a cry of pain to come from his new brother but none came so he decided to end it himself, "stop," he begged as he moved through the crowd, "STOP DAMNIT!" He cried and yet the villagers continued their torture of the nine year old boy.

Sasuke tried to move farther forward, to somehow defend the first person who meant anything to him in months, but the drunken mob just pushed him out their way as the beating continued. Sasuke collapsed in tears when he finally saw the broken and bloody mass that was Naruto. Holes tore through his skin and jagged wounds crisscrossed his back, his innards were quickly becoming outtards, and his face was nearly unrecognizable when the ANBU finally showed up.

The villagers quickly halted as the lead ANBU, a captain by his robes and mask, began to speak, "I have been given the authority to issue the death penalty to you fools on the counts of treason and the breaking of the Sandaime's Law, all Shinobi in this crowd have been issued said death penalty and all civilians are to be taken in for a lifetime in prison," Sasuke could sense the sadistic glee in the man's voice as he said this, "any civilians who are caught in the crossfire however were never here and as such neither I nor my men could have killed them," it was with these words that the blood bath truly began and Sasuke ran forward to guard Naruto as best he could.

"Ookami, check on the boy and keep him alive until we can get him to a hospital," the lead ANBU ordered and one of the black robed ANBU moved from the slaughter and green chakra flowed from their hands as they motioned for Sasuke to let them pass.

"If you hurt him, I'll kill you," he managed to say through his tears and the ANBU nodded as they began to try and stabilize the blonde's condition.

_**(Flashback End, Naruto PoV)**_

Naruto noticed the look on his friends face as they walked into the large building and once again headed toward Umino Iruka's classroom, "Yo Sasuke, you okay?" the ten year old asked, "if you're not feeling good I can tell sensei…"

"I'm fine…it's just that night again," the raven haired pre-teen replied slowly, "we need to find out why Naruto, you might be able to accept the hate without a reason but I can't," Sasuke explained and the blonde shrugged.

As usual the class was out of control before their sensei walked and, also as usual, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino came over to the pair and started obsessing over their crush. Sasuke sent Naruto a pained look as the girls dragged him toward a seat while fighting over which one would sit next to him. Naruto headed to the other side of the classroom and took a seat next the Nara genius Shikamaru and his friend Akimichi Chouji, "Yo," Naruto greeted, "what's going on?" he sweat-dropped when he received no response, Shikamaru was asleep already and Chouji was eating from a bag of chips.

Naruto noticed Sasuke glaring at him from the other side of the room when a message appeared on his desk written in chakra fire, 'I thought you were my friend' the message read and Naruto laughed at his dark-haired friend's plight. "Okay class today we will be studying the theory behind chakra manipulation and the creation of jutsu," Iruka began as he walked in. _'Note to self, studying ahead makes class extremely boring,'_ Naruto though to himself before he fell into the blissful state of unconsciousness that both he and Sasuke often found themselves in.

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"Naruto wake up!" Sasuke yelled into Naruto's ear, "the day is over!" the blonde still didn't reply and Sasuke began forming seals, "Alright remember you forced me to do this," Sasuke said as he brought his fingers up to his mouth in a circle, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu," he let the jutsu out in a short breath and a small flame expelled from his mouth and caught Naruto's pant leg on fire.

_'Gah why is my leg so hot, and I was having a good dream too, there was ramen everywhere and no stupid villagers...Wait why do I smell fire…hot leg plus fire equals… oh shit,'_ Naruto bolted awake and began trying to put the fire out by slamming his leg against the wall, "Gah, damnit Sasuke-teme I'm gonna kill you!" Naruto screamed at his only friend as Sasuke rolled on the floor laughing hysterically. Sasuke sensed a feeling of foreboding and quickly stopped laughing when he noticed Naruto standing above him, his pupils were slitted and he had a kunai in his hand, "I suggest you run Sasuke-teme," Sasuke gulped and rushed out the door and a blur of black and red followed him onto the rooftops of Konoha.

"Gah, Naruto! It is your own fault for not waking up!" he tried to reason when a kunai flew past his head, "I wouldn't have let the fire actually burn you!" he once again tried to reason, but it was pointless, kunai now flew past his head every second he made a desperate attempt to reach the compound.

Civilians began throwing rocks at Naruto when they realized what was going on, thinking that Naruto was finally fair game again. When the raven haired boy noticed this though he stopped immediately and Naruto did the same, "damnit can't they tell that if you were trying to kill me you wouldn't have missed so many times," Sasuke muttered under his breath as the villagers continued to throw rocks at the younger of the two, "Stop throwing those things unless you want me to tell the ANBU what you've been doing to Naruto-nii-san," Sasuke called down to the idiot villagers and Naruto forgot that Sasuke had lit his leg on fire when he called him brother.

_'We've never _actually _said it before,'_ Naruto realized as he stuck his tongue out at the civilians down below. "Yeah! You heard him! We're brothers and if you try to hurt one of us then you deal with both of us!" Naruto exclaimed and the civilians that had gathered began to disperse, fearful of both the ANBU and that displeasing the last Uchiha would lead to another massacre.

"Naruto lets head home!" Sasuke called from a couple of rooftops away and Naruto nodded happily, already chasing after the boy. They leaped from district to district, the rush of wind blowing their hair in elegant halos of yellow and black. Smiles graced their faces, true ones instead of the usual 'I'm content so don't bother me' smiles they usually wore on their carefully crafted emotional guards.

The Uchiha District had been altered since Naruto moved in, most of the buildings had been repainted to get rid of the feeling of there not being any life at all in the buildings. They had also captured numerous animals from the forests surrounding Konoha and had let them create their homes in the deserted homes. Naruto's own room was a dark orange, he had somehow convinced the Uchiha against his better judgment that it would be a good color for the room, while Sasuke's was the same blue as his jacket. The main room were the two had originally talked now had a large TV in the center and the furniture now faced toward it. Unfortunately for the two neither could cook so they often ate Naruto's instant ramen, eating out, or not eating the final meal of the day and more often than not it was the latter that ended up happening.

"Hey Sasuke, did you mean that? Do you really consider us brothers?" Naruto asked timidly, blonde though he was, he wasn't an idiot and he was worried that Sasuke had only said it because he was caught in the moment.

Sasuke looked at him like he was an idiot before replying, "That is what you suggested back when you found me at the memorial isn't it," Sasuke reminded him, "so yes Naruto, you are definitely my brother." Naruto grinned at the confirmation.

"I'm gonna go and do a little bit of kunai training, after all if I was missing you that badly today I clearly need it," Naruto joked and headed outside to the private training grounds of the Uchiha, leaving Sasuke alone with his thoughts.

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He had been outside for hours and the sound of a pointed blade breaking the air was still able to be heard, as was the distant _thwack_ of one of the kunai or shuriken hitting a target meters away. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he tried to 'see' the target before launching yet another hand of the bladed weapons fly. His nose twitched when another scent entered the area, _'That's not Sasuke,'_ was his last though before two dozen kunai came at him from behind. Only reflexes gathered from days of dodging Shinobi and Sasuke's attacks in their mock battles allowed him to dodge the majority of the blades. "Hmm, you're better than the villagers of this pathetic village told me," a masculine voice wheezed from behind him. Standing atop the shed in the training field was a darkly clothed man. Only his eyes were visible through the thick clothing he wore and on his forehead was a hitai-ate for Iwagakure, "they made you out to be some kind of idiotic demon, I thought it was preposterous, because honestly what kind of demon is an idiot?" the man asked rhetorically, "Oh yes they told me all about you, Uzumaki Naruto, or as they told me the Kyuubi no Kitsune in human form. I wonder what they would say if they found out that their pariah was also probably the son of their greatest hero…oh well idiots will be idiots I suppose," the man ranted as he drew a long silver blade from his back, "really kid this is nothing personal."

The man swung fast and hard and it was all Naruto could do to dodge the blade. The sword crashed down on a small tree stump and split it in two. The man brought the blade across in a rising arch and once again nearly severed Naruto's head from the rest of his body, the many was clearly grinning as Naruto dodged again and again. "Why…are… you… so… happy?" Naruto questioned as he dodged each strike.

"Because brat, you are much too good to be a simple Academy idiot. Not to mention it looks like I was right!" the man exclaimed as he struck again, yet this one seemed slower than the rest, "My attacks seem slower don't they boy, with each strike I appear o be getting slower, weaker even," the man guessed the blondes thoughts, "its not me getting slow, you simply seem to have realized your potential!" the man screamed again and his blade vanished in a blur. Naruto's eyes widened milliseconds before the blade tore through his right leg. His last sight before falling unconscious was of his brother racing toward him.

The raven haired boy had awoke when the assassin had yelled the first time and had quickly hurried to his brother's aide, "Bastard!" he cried and the assassin's eyes widened as the famous doujutsu known as the Sharingan formed in his new opponents eyes.

"Well this is interesting," the assassin mused, "first the Kyuu Kokudo Senkou and now I get to face the famous Sharingan as well, this night keeps getting better and better." Sasuke charged at the man, intent on causing him harm.

As he charged he formed handseals and called out a jutsu's name as he leaped into the air, "Katon: Ame Honoo!" a flame burst from his body before separating into nearly invisible drops of fire and the man's eyes widened as several of them hit him. What surprised him even more though was when his previously downed target stood on both legs, having somehow regenerated his right one, and red chakra flowed freely around him.

**"Well that was stupid of you,"** A voice that was not Naruto's came from the blonde's mouth,** "First you underestimate my jailer and then you piss of the one person who would die for him. You're just not doing to well tonight are you?"** The voice growled as he walked toward the still burning man and put a single clawed finger to the man's neck, **"Don't worry we all die sometime, today just happens to be your day,"** the voice said as he swiftly dragged his finger across the man's throat like a blade,** "Uchiha Gaki, make sure you dispose of this guy and make sure to bring my dumbass jailer back to your home," **The cold voice spoke to the frightened Sasuke who simply nodded. Naruto's aura fell as did the boy and Sasuke rushed forward to grab the once more unconscious blonde.

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"Eh where am I?" Naruto wondered wearily as he blinked the sleep from his eyes, "Last thing I remember a crazy ass assassin was about to kill after he cut off my leg…Ah my leg!" Naruto cried and quickly reached down to see if he still had his leg. When he realized he did a relieved sigh escaped from his mouth, "Huh, must have been a dream," Naruto said under his breath his door opened as he did and Sasuke walked in with a large tray of food, "Er, Sasuke it isn't my birthday."

"I know it isn't your birthday dobe and last night was definitely real, not to mention freaky," the boy said as he set down the breakfast tray on his friend's bed, "I got the Sharingan, that guy mentioned you had some sort of bloodline and then you went all evil and slit the guy's neck as well as referring to yourself as your 'jailer' before passing out. In other words after you eat we are going to the Hokage to find out exactly what the hell that was all about," Naruto watched in amusement as his friend ranted and raved about all of the things that could have gone wrong.

"Fine, fine, fine," Naruto relented in order to placate his over worried friend, "But you got your sharingan eh, that's cool…will you show me?" Naruto asked and his counterpart closed his eyes momentarily, when he opened them the eye was indeed a single tomoe sharingan, "Whoa, one step closer to avenging your clan," Naruto, mentioned and Sasuke nodded, the thought hadn't crossed his mind but now that the long-haired blonde mentioned it he realized he hadn't actually thought about Itachi or the clan for a while.

"Yeah one step closer and yet sill too many to go," Sasuke said dejectedly, knowing the small increase in power was nothing. After all Itachi had wiped out a clan full of people that had mastered the technique, a newly developed one would do nothing against the legend that was the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Naruto frowned the boy's pessimistic attitude, "Eh you're only ten, so we've got years to catch up to Itachi-teme!" Naruto reminded him _'even if he'll get stronger every year as well,'_ he left that unsaid however, knowing it would only send his friend further into his suppressed depression.

Naruto looked back down to his food and quickly consumed it, "Hey! Sasuke don't dare get all broody again!" The blonde yelled, effectively cheering his friend up with his idiotic play, "Besides we have a Hokage to see, right! So let's go!"

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"Eren-san we need to see Hokage-sama about something that happened last night at the District's training fields last night," Sasuke informed the lady at the desk, Eren, politely.

Eren nodded kindly and pressed a small button on her desk before speaking into the speaker next to the button, "Hokage-sama, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto wish to see you," her soft voice told the Hokage through the intercom system.

"Send them through Moriani-san," kindly though it was, the Hokage's voice held a gruff edge to it gained from age and seeing too may wars. The secretary nodded to the ANBU that stood guard and they opened the doors to the Hokage's office. The two walked through the doors which were quickly closed behind them.

"Ah Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun what can I do for you today?" the elderly leader questioned the two, hoping that he had mistaken the sharp gaze in the boy's eyes.

"There was an Iwa assassin trying to take out Naruto last night and we want to know why," Sasuke demanded, using the patented Sharingan Death Glare to seal the deal, "Not to mention Naruto managed to somehow regrow his leg that the assassin had cut of and then frighten the man enough so he couldn't move while a weird red chakra aura surrounded Naruto before Naruto slit his throat. All the while a creepy voice was using Naruto's mouth and referred to Naruto as his Jailer," through the entire speech a scowl never left the boy's mouth.

The Hokage sighed as Sasuke finished the tale. He put his fingers in a pyramid in front of his face and waited several moment before he thought of a way to explain without bringing up the Kyuubi, however when no other solution presented itself the Hokage began to tell the tale that had been kept from the younger generation of Konoha for nearly eleven years, "Sasuke I'm sure you remember what happened on Naruto's ninth birthday correct?" the Hokage asked and at the Uchiha's stiff nod he continued, "one of the ANBU probably mentioned that the offenders had broken a law simply titled The Sandaime's Law," once again Sasuke nodded, "what I am about to tell both of you is what that law pertains to. I trust both of you to be open minded do to your experience and knowledge of one another. Nearly eleven years ago today the great biju Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked this village, tell me what do you know of the outcome of this battle?" the Hokage asked wearily, knowing that what he was about to say could change the boy's brotherly bonds that both needed desperately.

This time it was not Sasuke who answered but his unusually silent partner, "The Kyuubi had destroyed most of the village when the Yondaime finally confronted the demon. When they fought however the Yondaime used a double kill attack in order to kill the Kyuubi at the cost of his own life," Naruto answered confidently, "But I don't understand what this have to do with anything."

Once again the Hokage sighed tiredly, "Alas it has to do with everything. Kyuubi was the most powerful demon that any of the three realms had ever seen. He was the most powerful of the nine biju, King of the eastern Makai, and could stand on even ground with the most powerful of celestial beings, no to call Kyuubi a demon would be insulting he was a force of Nature, but I digress. The Kyuubi was so powerful that no mortal, not even the Yondaime who was probably the most excellent Shinobi to ever exist, could fight it equally. So Namikaze Minato, The Yondaime Hokage, did the next best thing he sealed the demon in his newborn son," the Hokage paused, hoping the boys would figure it out and he was right, shortly understanding dawned on the boys, "Unfortunately the villagers did not view the boy, Namikaze Naruto, as the hero he had wished. Instead they saw only the demon that had destroyed countless lives and families, not the blonde-haired youth that was the demon's jailer only," the Third finished softly, fearful of the chaos that would follow.

It is safe to say that the hysterical laughter that erupted from both boys was not what he expected, "Is…that…all?" Naruto asked between deep breaths, trying to recover from the laughing fit.

"You're…trying...to…tell…us…that the…villagers hate Naru…to because of something the Hokage did?" Sasuke managed as he recovered, "That is ridiculous."

"Really Ojii-san you expect us to believe that?" Naruto asked incredulously.

**Alas gaki the old man isn't lying, you're dumbass Hokage couldn't beat me even with his most powerful jutsu so he summoned forth the Shinigami to steal my soul and place inside of your infantile chakra system so that it would form around me and work like a tie.** As each of the words formed in his head Naruto's jaw dropped a little further and when the demon inside of him finally stopped talking a look of disbelief covered his face, "So you said the Yondaime was my father right?" Naruto asked and the Hokage nodded, "Then where exactly has my mother been all these years?'

"Your mother died giving birth to you, your father never would have used you if she had been alive," The elderly man who finally looked his full age explained to the jinchuuriki.

"Naruto…Naruto you don't honestly believe that do you?" Sasuke asked, knowing his brother and knowing there was no way he was a demon, "I mean you're not a demon! You're my brother not some demon trash!"

"You're right I'm not a demon, a jail and jailer for a demon however…that is what I am, that is what the Fourth made me," Naruto said, his head hanging, _'He hates me, I'm evil just like Itachi,'_ the thought flew through his head suddenly.

"Whatever Naruto!" The raven haired boy cried again, "When you're ready to be my brother again you know where to find me!" Raven and blue disappeared as Sasuke launched himself out of the Hokage's window before flying across rooftops towards the Uchiha Memorial.

"Go find him Naruto, he's been your friend for years. He believes you are going to abandon him for your own despair and leave him alone again," Sarutobi suggested and Naruto nodded before following his friend out the window.

_'Sasuke we promised we'd never abandon each other…so where are you?' _Naruto asked himself as he passed the Memorial when he noticed Sasuke wasn't there, _'Where else was important to us?'_ he wondered when he passed the town's center, _'Hokage Monument!'_ he realized and raced for the heads of the four Hokage that were carved out of the mountain on one side of the village, both observed the fireworks during the Kyuubi Festival from there, no-one ever searched for them there so it was the one place in the entire village where they were safe on October the Tenth every year.

As he approached Naruto noticed the blue jacket he had given Sasuke for his ninth birthday sitting on the ground next to the boy, "Sasuke! What the hell are you doing up here?" Naruto called as he approached the crying boy, "We swore we would never abandon each other even if we did find new friends, we were family that could never be replaced remember!" he angrily said, annoyed that Sasuke would think that he would abandon the raven haired prodigy.

"Na...ruto?" Sasuke mumbled through his tears as the blonde screamed at him, "So does this mean you're not leaving me?" Sasuke asked dully and the blonde's response was a simple hug.

"Of course I'm not leaving baka."

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End A/N: I swear if anyone suggests that last scene was a NaruSasu moment I will shoot them. They're like brothers people! Anyway this is my longest chapter ever posted and I haven't even gotten to the Ninja stuff yet.

1: There is kanji for both of these right?

Story Words: 5,803

Total Words: 6,009

Pages: 11

Pages in story: 10

Finished: 12/2/2007


	2. How I Hate You Pt 1

A/N: Well hopefully this chapter won't be like the second chapter of So Little Time and jump from 5k to 2k words.

'_Thoughts'_

**Kyuubi**

Story

"Speech"

Exams are coming up for me so who knows when the next chapter will be posted but hopefully I can finish this one before they come, if not…don't expect anything until at least after the 25th(Christmas) Cause I'm going to my bastard dad's for the twentieth through the twenty fourth and after that I'll be too preoccupied with failing grades in English and whatever shit I get for Christmas.

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What You Don't Know

Chapter 2: How I Hate You Pt. 1

"Sasuke? You alright now?" Naruto questioned as he let go of his still crying brother, "You are right okay, the stupid fox doesn't change anything, especially not between the two of us."

Sasuke let himself a small smile before he stood up and stretched, "I was just worried that…you know, that you'd be like Itachi and leave me," Sasuke tried to explain, "and I just couldn't deal with that right now, not so soon after being reminded about him," a glance of disbelief from his friend was returned by a glare, "I'm being serious Naruto, up until this morning I hadn't even though about Itachi in about a year and then you reminded me about everything and then…" raven strands fell in his face as he trailed off.

Naruto nodded and begin speaking when he noticed that Sasuke wasn't listening to his own words as they fell from his mouth, "Sasuke," He called softly and his Uchiha friend looked up, "You made me search all over Konoha for you! You know how many places I searched before I came here!" Naruto scolded playfully and a chuckle escaped from Sasuke, "Gah! And now you're laughing about it! You've got some serious problems Sasuke-teme!' Chuckles turned into full blown laughter at the outburst and Naruto smiled before joining his best friend in a crazy fit of laughter, the whole situation was just to ridiculous not to laugh at.

"Come on Naruto, Iruka-sensei is probably wondering why he hasn't seen either of us in the past few days," Sasuke suggested, in truth Umino Iruka was probably glad to have a break from the pranking duo, Naruto was still laughing when Sasuke looked at him oddly, "Eh, Naruto!" yelling to catch the blondes attention, "moment's over shorty."

Naruto glared at his friend and jumped off of the monument's head down to its nose and from there headed for the streets of Konoha while Sasuke tried to catch up. As the blonde ran through the streets everything seemed to slow down in his eyes, the people slowed to almost a complete stop and he could immediately see a path through them, 'W_hat in the world?' _Naruto mused as he weaved through the crowd with the agility and grace of a seasoned jounin, _'He said something about being right about something right around the time he started slowing…could this be what he was talking about?'_ Naruto came to a stop and realized that Sasuke was far behind so he leaped onto a roof and contemplated waiting.

When he finally decided to go directly to the academy however Sasuke had already caught up with him though he was breathing heavily, "How the hell did you do that Naruto?" Sasuke panted and wheezed as he tried to catch his breath, "Have you been training without me?" Sasuke accused and Naruto threw his hands up, quickly trying to defend himself, "I was joking Naruto," Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Y'know for a genius you can be really stupid sometimes Naruto. That weird guy did mention something about something called Kyuu Kokudo Senkou (Nine Realm Flash)…maybe it's some kind of Kekkei Genkai? Yondaime was famed for his speed and was the only shinobi to ever get a Flee on Sight order," Sasuke recited lines that they had been forced to memorize about the Hokage.

"Why do you remember all of those pointless facts?" Naruto asked honestly, "Anyway, do you think so? That would be so cool!" Naruto jumped high in excitement and Sasuke wondered why in the world Naruto still acted like this sometimes, "Sooooooo…are we skipping again?" Sasuke nodded and Naruto headed for the raining fields on the other side of Konoha, once again leaving a confused brother in his wake.

Naruto appeared at his side in a flash, "Well are you coming or not?" he questioned, but when the raven didn't respond Naruto grabbed his hand and dragged him as they traveled faster than most jounin can,** 'And to think that's only the Ichi Kokudo Senkou,'** Kyuubi's thoughts went unnoticed by his container as he and his brother began their training.

"So taijutsu today, right Naruto?" Sasuke asked after he finished his stretches, "We've been doing ninjutsu and genjutsu too much recently," He noted, Naruto nodded and took a stance that neither recognized. Sasuke groaned at the invented stance but took his family's Boujuken(Interception Fist) stance after activating the Sharingan.

Naruto phased out of sight and the sharingan only caught slight movement to Sasuke's left, the boy quickly moved out of the way right before Naruto's fist came across his line of sight. Once more the blonde disappeared while Sasuke caught only the barest of movement, he put up his left arm to intercept the coming blow but it never came, instead a kick to the head sent him flying. Once again his blonde brother appeared out of nowhere and drove his right knee into Sasuke's gut, this time however Sasuke could at least _see_ the attack. Sasuke took the initiative after recovering and struck where he thought Naruto would show up, his gloved hand grazed flesh and he grinned.

Naruto appeared once more, blood was flowing profusely from the left side of his face, "Heh, I guess that speed has some disadvantages," he mused before charging at Sasuke and slamming a fist into Sasuke's face. He swung again but their fists met and a resounding _crack_ was heard as both of their knuckles burst through skin. Neither noticed as they leaped away and pulled kunai from pouches on their pant legs, both threw them at high speed before drawing another and racing toward each other. Naruto had the advantage of speed, forcing Sasuke to slide back when the short knives clashed, "looks like I'm winning Sasuke," Naruto grinned before he flipped and used Sasuke's arm as a platform.

"You still have blood all over your face dobe," Sasuke reminded him when the blonde landed. Sasuke used the delay time to run to the side and race at the blonde's still weak right leg. A blade met the swipe and Naruto grinned as Sasuke once again backed off. Naruto's eyes flashed crimson before settling at a cold violet when he phased again, this time the sharingan had failed entirely when Naruto appeared behind him and Sasuke felt the cold pressure of a kunai at his neck, "Looks like you win Naruto," Sasuke conceded and the blade also vanished from his neck, "so I need to develop a new style if I'm going to contend with you in taijutsu matches, the sharingan couldn't even see you move until you were right next to me."

Both boys were silent when a _very_ loud and annoying voice broke the peace, "LEE did you see that wonderful display of YOUTH!" both boys turned to see where the disturbance was coming from and what they saw disturbed them greatly. A man in a green jumpsuit with over large eyebrows, a bowl but, and a jounin vest to top it was the man who disturbed their post-spar analysis. But it wasn't him who frightened them, no it was his mini-clone beside him that was truly frightening, the boy had even larger eyebrows than the man who was clearly his sensei, he wore orange leg warmers, his bowl cut actually appeared as though someone shoved a bowl on his head and then cut his hair, and tears were flowing down his face in a miniature waterfall.

"Why Gai-sensei! Why am I not as YOUTHFUL as them," The boy cried and the waterfalls quickly became torrents. He quickly put on a determined face however and launched himself at 'Gai-sensei', "Gai-sensei if I can not achieve their YOUTHFULNESS then I shall run seven hundred laps around Konoha!" the boy declared loudly.

"And if you cannot do that then I shall climb the Hokage Monument without my hand or chakra!" the elder clone proclaimed.

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

GAI-SENSEI!"

(Do I really need to go on?)

Several minutes later two more genin, a boy and a girl, joined the two on either side and Naruto and Sasuke prepared to run, but these two didn't seem nearly as crazy as their sensei or teammate, "Stop doing that in public would you!" The girl screamed and punched the miniature on his head, "Really, Gai-sensei, Lee-kun," she addressed the oddly dressed pair, "you should know better than to interrupt someone else's training!"

Naruto, Sasuke, and the boy remained silent throughout the entire exchange as the girl continued to rant about how _un-_youthful it was to do this or that. "In case you two are wondering, the girl yelling at Gai-sensei and Lee is TenTen, I am Hyuuga Neji, the rookie for this year," the boy, Neji, said as he inched closer to the brothers, "the two in green do this all the time, going on about youth and its excellence. That's why she's saying it's unyouthful."

The brothers nodded in understanding, though still seriously disturbed that those two were ninja, worse still was that one was a jounin, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and this is my friend Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto introduced and Neji nodded after giving an analyzing glance at the latter mentioned. TenTen had finally stopped scolding the freakish pair and walked over to the three boys that were watching with fascination.

"HI!" The girl smiled and stuck out hand, "My name is TenTen, who are you?" the girl reintroduced herself amd Naruto shook her hand after introducing himself and Sasuke to her. The green pair walked up and began apologizing relentlessly after they picked themselves up from the crying masses Ten-Ten left them as.

"We apologize Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun," Gai once again apologized for their 'unyouthful' actions, "but the grace that you two sparred with awed my student and me. If I may ask, whose team are you on?"

Naruto stared at the jounin oddly, "Team? We haven't graduated yet, Sasuke's eleven and I turn eleven in two months so we still have another year to go," Naruto told all four of team Gai.

Sasuke nodded in confirmation, "if the teachers didn't hate Naruto for the you-know-what we probably could've gotten out early, but we just got a fair examiner last year and by then all of the years were locked in unless you failed."

Gai and Lee stared in shock, not believing that such grace and skill was possible to any academy students. A gentle wind blew through the few trees in the field, "So you two know about _it_?" Gai asked the younger boys, Naruto simply slanted his head to confirm the statement, "Well then how would you like to train with my team? And if you're lucky Hokage-sama might allow you to join us in a few of our missions next year," Gai said, trying to give incentive to the boys.

Both nodded excitedly and Naruto grinned his old faux shit-eating grin, "Hey Gai you said you were a Taijutsu master right?" Gai nodded to the question asked by the ten year old blonde, "Well, um, doyouknowanythingaboutKyuuKokudoSenkou?" Naruto asked rapidly. When Gai looked at him confused Naruto took a deep breath and repeated slowly, "Do you know anything about Kyuu Kokudo Senkou?"

Gai looked shocked at the question, but he still attempted to answer, "Hmm, the last time I heard about that was about eleven years ago," he implied, not knowing if the boys knew about the Fourth's secret, "All I really know about it is that it was nine levels, as implied by the name, and each allows you to access a different realm's power. Clearly from your battle you have the first, but I'm afraid the only one who would be able to tell you anything more is the Yondaime's sensei, Jiraiya of the Sannin," Naruto looked downcast due to learning so little about his potential bloodline, "however the Sandaime may be able to tell you some as well, he did teach Jiraiya-sama, and Hatake Kakashi may know as well, he was a student of the Yondaime before he became Hokage."

Sasuke punched his friend's shoulder lightly, "hey Naruto, A little information is better than none. And at least now you know who to ask," As always the comforting words that came from his brother cheered him up a little, putting yet another false smile on Naruto's face, "Arigatou Gai-sensei, but Naruto and I have to leave now," Sasuke gave a short bow to the man then turned his back and walking away from the training fields shortly followed by Naruto.

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Naruto got out of his bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he quickly walked over to his closet and pulled out an inverse of what he used to wear. His undershirt was red with fishnet showing through at the top, His jacket was black and the collar covered the sides and back of his neck with a thin plate of metal that rapped around it. His pants were also black but had patches of red in certain spots; each of these spots was in fact a scroll pocket. Naruto went to the corner of his room adjacent to the door and took a katana TenTen had given to him for his eleventh birthday and slid the sheath through two holes on the back of his coat which held it in place. Attached to the door was a full size mirror, he brushed his blonde and red-streaked hair and looked at his slitted violet eyes that were changing to crimson slowly. He once again moved away from the door and set his clothes on his bed before walking into the bathroom to take a shower.

(I refuse to write a shower scene due to the fact that I am male and he is eleven)

He got out twenty minutes later and quickly dressed. He put on his now customary smirk and walked out of the room after slipping on his old glove before he walked down the hall until he came to the kitchen where food was laid out, and Sasuke was eating like a starved man. "Can you believe Gai actually convinced the Hokage to allow two academy students onto a C-Rank mission under the title of apprentices?" Naruto asked the boy who was gorging himself on all manner of food.

Sasuke wore a similar outfit to Naruto, just in blue and white instead of black and red. Where Naruto had a penchant for sword and knives Sasuke preferred thrown weapons and on his twelfth birthday TenTen had arrived with an extremely large five pointed Shuriken which branched off in odd directions, this was currently sitting to the side of the table the same as Naruto's Ketsueki Senkou (Blood Flash). "It is pretty cool isn't it, I mean we already have who knows how many D-Ranks on our record and now we'll have a C-rank as well and before we're even genin too," Sasuke said confidently.

"Yeah and it's not like we can fail, with us it's a six man team if you include Gai-sensei," Naruto observed after practically throwing food down his throat, "It's your turn to do dishes Sasuke-nii-san," Naruto teased, making Sasuke growl in annoyance at the purple eyed boy who just stuck his tongue out in retort.

"Y'know Naruto, you can be real immature sometimes," Sasuke mused as he picked up the breakfast dishes, "We've got all of our weapons right?" he asked and Naruto did a quick check of all of his pockets.

"Let's see poisoned senbon, kunai, three-point shuriken, kunai, Ketsueki Senkou, and your Kyojin Go (Giant Five). Yeah I think that's everything," Naruto listed, "wait are we going to bring those disks?"

Sasuke shook his head, "No I'm not done with the holder so they wouldn't stay and months of research would go to waste," Naruto nodded, the disks were something they and TenTen had been working on for a while and Sasuke was working on something that would hold them. Sasuke put the dishes away and pick up Go Kyojin, putting each of the blades through their specially designed holders on the back of his jacket at the same time as Naruto slid his Katana back into its spot.

"Well then let's go!" Naruto exclaimed and grabbed Sasuke's shoulder before entering Ichi Kokudo Senkou. The experience was just as amazing as it always was, the ability to literally move through a crowd without touching anyone was only beaten by doing the same thing with a dozen shuriken flying at you with enemies on all sides as the blades fly past your swiftly bending and flexing body.

Sasuke however didn't agree with Naruto's assessment, he couldn't see anything while his friend dragged him along, it was only the fact that Naruto was a user that he was able to see the delicate movements needed and his body had the ability to take the hyper accelerated movement. Every time Sasuke was dragged along he would throw up when they finally came to a stop from the Ichi Kokudo Senkou. They reached the South Gate this way and Sasuke once again threw up after stopping, gagging on his own stomach acids he cleaned the area around his mouth delicately, "Damn, if that's how the first realm is I don't even want to know what the others are like."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the comment, "Y'know, you say that after every trip. If you hate it so much travel the old fashioned way, nothing stopping you," Naruto remarked, "and maybe you shouldn't force so much food down your throat if you're just gonna throw it back up." Sasuke once again glared at the blonde before standing up straight and walking up a tree and laying on one of the branches, "Alright, I guess I'll just wake you up when Gai-sensei and the rest get here."

**Gaki! Do you like my gifts?** The Kyuubi asked, referring to Naruto's eyes and hair._ 'What does it matter baka fox?'_ Naruto snarled at the demon in his head, but the biju was already gone as it was prone to do,_ 'damn bastard fox, asks a question then leaves before I answer.'_

"Naruto-kun!" a girl's voice disturbed Naruto's musings, "Where's Sasuke-kun?" TenTen asked when she skidded to a stop at the meeting place.

Naruto pointed at the tree Sasuke was resting in, "Watch where you step Sasuke got sick again," Naruto joked and he heard a near silent 'hn' from Sasuke, "You do that like it's my fault you can't handle my Kekkei Genkai!" Naruto yelled at the tree Sasuke was in.

Silence was held between the three until Hyuuga Neji walked up and was met by a chorus of hellos, the boy had his byakugan active when Sasuke leaped out of the tree and landed after doing a few flips. Sasuke and Neji glared at each other, Sasuke with his mismatched two-and-one tomoe sharingan and Neji with his lavender byakugan, "Uchiha-san," Neji greeted coldly. Naruto and TenTen rolled their eyes at the mini-feud, Uchiha and Hyuuga had argued since Hyuuga-Uchiha Madara developed the sharingan before the founding of Konoha.

Their glaring match continued until Maito Gai and Rock Lee walked through the gate at the same time, _'Hmm, do they live together or do they just meet up at some random spot?'_ Naruto speculated idly as the two loudly greeted the group. "Are you all READY?" Gai asked loudly and the four that had been there first winced at the volume.

"Uh, Gai-sensei shouldn't we be, y'know, quieter?" Naruto suggested tentatively, afraid of the noise and declarations of youth that would follow.

"Such a youthful suggestion Naruto-kun!" Rock Lee declared, although in a greatly subdued voice, "You are right of course we must be the best of ninja if we wish to complete this C-Rank mission!"

Naruto, Sasuke, TenTen, and Neji all sighed in relief from the break of noise, no matter how brief it ended up being. "Well then my students, it is time to head out and begin our mission," Gai said as he entered 'ninja mode.' All five of the genin, or apprentices, nodded as they headed out. Gai was situated in the middle of the group, Neji was at point and Lee was standing next to him. Naruto and Sasuke were positioned to either side of the group and TenTen lagged behind the group to provide long range support if it was needed. They were doing a protection exercise where Gai was playing the role of 'helpless civilian' and the rest were his hired 'shinobi guards'. Naruto's jacket swayed slightly in the wind and the blonde tensed suddenly.

Naruto shook it off and they continued on but his stance was alert and left no openings to attack, Gai noticed this and took a similar battle stance when he noticed both of his younger pupils had tensed, "Neji-kun please keep your byakugan active from here on," Gai requested and the Hyuuga boy complied as veins bulged around his eyes, "Sasuke-kun please activate your sharingan as well," Gai once again ordered when he noticed that despite the alert state the academy student held he had not yet activated his bloodline.. The entire team continued moving, now at a slower and more prepared pace, toward the small non-shinobi village that they had been ordered to go to.

"AHHHH!" TenTen screeched and the entire team spun around. TenTen was being held against the chest of a cloaked man with a kunai at her throat,_ 'TenTen!'_ Naruto nearly panicked, but kept a cool head, knowing that panicking would only make it worse.

Naruto's hands went to his blade on his back and Sasuke forced the Go Kyojin into a tanto whose blade slid of in random directions like a lightening bolt striking from the sky, Neji had taken the Hyuuga's Jyuuken stance, both Gai and Lee had dropped into the Tekken stance. "Now there's no need to fight, I just want to prevent you from going on this mission. Besides we're all shinobi here, I'm sure we can come to some sort of deal," the nuke-nin's tone was mocking and playful, a clear insult to the team's strength, "Besides I think it's clear that I can sneak up on you, and I doubt you could do the same to me," He began to drop his hood as he talked, the man's face was scarred beyond recognition although his amber eyes stood out clearly amongst the clear signs of torture, "Allow me to introduce myself my name is Kan Hinsei and some very nice men hired me to prevent you or your team from reaching the village."

Naruto grinned and his violet eyes flashed crimson once more, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto," he activated the first realm flash and the man found the Ketsueki Senkou buried deep in the arm that held TenTen, "And he," Naruto said jerking his thumb toward Sasuke, "Is Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke rushed the man and buried the blade in the Nuke-nin's other arm, **"And neither of us like you very much," **Naruto snarled in the Kyuubi's voice before he swiftly cut the man's legs off, "Gai-sensei!" Naruto called, "Should we kill 'em or question him when he wakes up?"

When Gai didn't respond Naruto took the initiative and tore his blade through the man's neck, "Gai-sensei, they'll have to kill eventually. Naruto and I are just used to wiping out people who try to kill us," Sasuke reminded the man with a sad look on his face, knowing that being able to mercilessly kill at the age of twelve wasn't right, "We may want to head back to Konoha, if whoever hired this guy hired more nuke-nin this is easily an A-Class mission."

Naruto shook his head at the statement, "No, so long as Gai-sensei and his team are willing to continue, I want to finish this mission. I mean can you imagine that? Two academy students with A-Class missions!" Naruto looked at the rest of the team, all but Neji and Gai looked sick, and asked them silently if they wanted to continue. Neji, TenTen, and Lee all nodded their consent and Gai sighed before he led them closer to the small farming village, _'What could be so important about a farming village?' _Naruto pondered as they headed past the dead body.

As they continued past, this time with Gai's clones surrounding the group, Naruto and Sasuke lowered their voices as they began to speak, "Naruto…are you okay?" Sasuke asked when he noticed that despite his friend's words earlier he was shaking constantly, "this is the first time _you_ have killed someone," Naruto nodded but still didn't speak, instead he wrapped his arms around himself as if he was cold, "Naruto maybe we shouldn't continue the mission…" Sasuke suggested quietly.

"No!" Naruto shouted suddenly and Sasuke subconsciously stepped back, "No, we can't quit Sasuke, not now," Naruto breathed, trying to regain his calm, "I'm sorry, but I have to keep going. How about you? Are you alright?"

Sasuke nodded, "All I did was stab his arm after you," Naruto smiled, glad that Sasuke's hands hadn't yet been stained, _'Even if he'll have to kill eventually…I promise to keep his hands free of blood for as long as I can,'_ Naruto promised himself as he stared at his friend's reassured gait. Four days later large wooden gates loomed in front of the team as Gai slowed to a stop and dispelled his clone guards after near non-stop activation.

"My students we have arrived!" Gai announced loudly, "The power of youth prevails again!" Four out of five pre-teens winced while Lee grinned with pride, "We are the shinobi that were hired from Konoha, please allow us inside."

The gates creaked open and what they saw was not what they expected. Instead of the luscious green farmland they had expected there was barren, burning waste. Twenty or so meters away another large gate stood, this one bisected the village. Signs of mundane and shinobi battles were all over the city and it once again led the six Konoha nin wonder what was going on, "From Konoha right?" a man who came from the main gate asked and the nin nodded, "oh good, we were worried you would never show up. Come right this way please," the short man, barely taller than Naruto, led them toward a large log cabin situated in the middle of this side of the village. The man stopped in front of the building and turned toward the six, "Inside is Mokuto Ryuomaru-sama, he is the leader of the village and is the one who sent for Konoha nin to be hired in the first place. He is to be treated with the same respect as your Hokage, otherwise the council may not take kindly to it."

Naruto snorted with laughter, granting him a glare from their guide, "Sir," the boy said with false sincerity, "This is a mission and he is the client, we will treat him with the same respect he gives us. Regardless we will complete the mission" when Gai looked at the boy with disapproval and Naruto had the decency to looked ashamed for a moment but didn't retract his comment. The man leading them sneered slightly but led him inside the building. Inside was the entire coalition of this sides army, Gai noticed quite a few missing-nin and even some hired help from other villages gathered around the center table where a large man stood. The man had long red hair and emerald eyes, he wore no shirt and his simple pants were ripped and faded with age. The man, presumably the leader, was extremely muscular due to years of work in the fields of this village and his hands could probable surround Naruto's head with their size, "So, Gai-sensei I take it we'll be helping him!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, attracting the attention of nearly everyone there.

"Naruto-kun we can not judge a man's position simply by their size," Gai replied with unusual calm for the taijutsu master, "I must ask however, are you Mokuto Ryuomaru?" Gai asked the burly man.

The man let out a bellowing laugh and he looked on condescendingly, "These are the shinobi of Konoha that Mokuto-sama requested! I don't believe such scrawny people could stand up to any of us!" The man, clearly not Mokuto Ryuomaru, let out yet another bout of laughter, "Please! The shinobi on the other side are much older and more experienced than these GAKI!" The man once again roared and he picked up an ax from the side of the table he was standing on, "Stop this shinobi!" He gave a loud battle cry and the ax blade flew through the air toward the group of Konoha shinobi.

Gai was the first to react, quickly raising his arm at speeds only an elite could ever hope to match, _'Is that really how much better Jounin are than us?'_ Naruto thought as he looked on in amazement when the blade was stopped by Gai's arm alone. Gai had a look on his face that was rarely seen there, "You have broken your leader's contract by attacking us, and much more you did an utterly despicable thing by assaulting the flames of YOUTH!" Naruto, Neji, TenTen and Sasuke all face faulted at the proclamation, 'that's Gai-sensei for you' was the simultaneous though of all four, but Lee looked on in pride, "The termination of this contract was already issued earlier when we were attacked by a shinobi on the road, making this mission B-Ranked at least and you just confirmed that there are more that we will be fighting. Under these circumstances we can no longer accept this mission, however my team does need combat experience, so as long as you are willing to pay triple the original price we would be happy to continue assisting you," as Gai finished his speech a low, elderly chuckle was heard from behind the giant of a man who had attacked them.

"I apologize for Banryu's attitude toward shinobi, he doesn't seem to understand the power that chakra has on the body," A short man, this one everyone was bowing to, said as he limped in on his cane, "We would be more than happy to pay whatever the noble Shinobi of Konoha ask so long as the mission is completed for you are right we did lie about the difficulty quite a bit. In fact I believe that assassination missions are given only to ANBU correct?" Gai's eyes widened when this was mentioned but nodded slowly, "I can see the steel in two of your student's eyes however…perhaps they have already been tainted by blood, not death perhaps but pain is certain," Mokuto Ryuomaru muttered as he looked appraisingly at Naruto and Sasuke, "And another one knows the pain of betrayal by family, yes he knows it stronger even than the younger," Once again the elderly man looked on, this time at Neji. "Yes I see only two pure souls here, and one of them has a small taint of knowing the prejudice of others," The elderly man nodded knowingly, "Yes I've known the pains all of you feel…yes even the pain of a jinchuuriki boy," He finished and stood directly in front of a surprised Naruto.

Naruto snarled menacingly, "I don't know what you're talking about," Ryuomaru laughed sadly at the blondes attempts to frighten him.

"Oh, I think you do my dear boy…yes my son was much like you, headstrong, extremely talented and he knew it. Yes Mizuroku acted much like you, he was older though and I'd say he didn't bare the burden quite as well either…yes I think great things will come if you can ever access the full version of your bloodline," Naruto was left speechless at the words and couldn't ask what he meant before the man turned his attention to the enthusiastic Gai, "Yes these two will do fine. May I have them complete the main objective whist you and your team complete the kill?" A look of displeasure crossed Gai's face but Sasuke nodded an affirmative to the young jounin.

"Of course! Their Power of YOUTH shall not fall you!" Gai exclaimed and the entire hall winced at the volume except Ryuomaru and Lee.

"Very well, do you two think you can incapacitate the other side of the village while your sensei and team capture their leader?" Ryuomaru asked Naruto and Sasuke.

Sasuke gave a feral grin as he nodded, "Yeah no problem, don't worry about us!" Sasuke confirmed confidently and Naruto gave a short nod, still contemplating the man's words, _'How does he know about the Kyuu Kokudo Senkou?' _he asked himself but it was the fox who responded.

**Because, gaki, that man is a seer. Can you not see it in his eyes?** The Kyuubi sneered in the boy's mind,** besides you practically flaunt the fact that it is there with the way you move. You'll find that the Kekkei Genkai you possess is famous indeed in its later forms. **Naruto snorted in displeasure at being one-upped by the Kitsune youkai, but listened none the less, after all being one of the first living beings had to have some advantages.

"Alright then, I'll have the gat guards allow you inside of the no-man's-land but you'll have to find your own way to the other territory. As for your mission Gai-san, you will be targeting Minozaku Morimeri, he is much younger than myself, "Ryuomaru said jokingly but received no laughter, "Ahem, yes well, he is young and powerful at fist fights but he know nothing of chakra and should therefore provide little challenge against ones such as yourself."

"Yosh! We shall complete the objective you have given to us! For we do not want our YOUTHFUL flames of YOUTH to die!" Lee yelled at even higher volumes than should be possible as a sunset appeared behind him when Gai approached, "Gai-SENSEI!"

"NO!" the entire team yelled and the sound of a board being scratched was heard as the sunset crashed to the ground, "Gai-sensei, Lee-kun there is no need for that here. We have a mission to do, Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun need to find a way to the other side of the village and we need to observe our target," TenTen seethed at the pair with green jumpsuits.

Naruto and Sasuke nodded at the instructions and headed out the door behind them. When they entered the Village Main they noticed the extent of the damage to the village and the citizens, "this is bad Naruto," Sasuke whispered when observed a family that had obviously been disfigured by some sort of fire jutsu, "everyone here is either sick, dieing, or dead," Sasuke noted sadly when a group of children walked by.

Naruto nodded sadly at the damage done, "Can you imagine the psychological damage if this is the _physical_ damage," he smiled a little when he saw two teens holding each other close in the corner of the fortress like farming town, "well at least everyone still has each other…but wait, why is everyone out here disfigured and sick, yet everyone inside of the building perfectly normal?"

Sasuke shrugged, "Who knows, if that old guy wasn't so creepy I'd say we should ask him, but I'm not sure he would give us a straight answer…It isn't our place to know anyway, we're shinobi we don't need any information other than that which is important to the mission," Naruto frowned but nodded in understanding. They continued to walk in silence in the cool breeze that had yet to leave the area since they had left, Naruto and Sasuke both tried their best to ignore the pain and suffering around them that they both knew all too well, not the pain of physical oddities, but the pain of having no one to turn to for help for everyone either didn't care or was suffering n the same way.

"Maybe we should get some food and discuss our plans, ne Sasuke," Naruto suggested when they passed a run down ramen stand. Sasuke sighed but nodded and Naruto dragged him towards the shack.

They took two seats at the stools and they ordered two bowls of miso ramen before they began talking, "So, how do we plan to get in?" Sasuke asked his brother who had already finished the noodles that had just been placed in front of the pair.

"Well I figure they have to know we're here, in fact I'd bet that they tried to hire some of us also, but when they saw that we had already accepted the mission from Mokuto-san they gave up. So I doubt that they'll be expecting anyone to try to directly enter their side of the village from the outside…in fact I bet in all of the previous raids Mokuto-san tried to bust through the wall and completely disregarded the element of surprise, but if all else fails I can get us over there without being seen, they'll just wonder why you're throwing up," Naruto planned quickly and Sasuke finished his noodles after Naruto was done talking.

"Alright, maybe we should just use the realms to get over there," Sasuke mused aloud, "I mean if it is anything like over here I don't imagine people randomly throwing up will be anything unusual," Naruto nodded silently and took a sip of the water in front of him.

"Hey chef!" Naruto addressed the man who had served them, "Do you know why everyone at the town center is perfectly fine while everyone else is, well to be blunt, messed up?" The chef got a frightened look and hurried off away from the stand, "Well that was odd…" Sasuke nodded in agreement with an eyebrow raised at the odd occurrence, "Right then, you know the drill Sasuke Grab my shoulder and I'll get us out of here." Sasuke put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder lazily and they disappeared in a flash of black, sun-kissed yellow, and red.

Everything was different this time though, instead of the usual stopping sensation around him Naruto felt as though gravity itself was urging him forward as he rushed forward. Then something amazing happened, when they approached the walls that blocked the no-man's-land Naruto rushed straight at the wall with Sasuke in tow, but instead of hitting it the pair went right through the wood wall, _'Is this another power of the Kyuu Kokudo Senkou?'_ Naruto wondered when he came to a stop and set Sasuke down softly as the raven-haired boy began throwing up again.

"What the hell was that Naruto? It felt worse than usual!" Sasuke hissed when he wiped the remnants from his mouth for the second time that week. Sasuke looked up and let out a small gasp of surprise, "Naruto are you seeing this?" the Uchiha asked slowly.

Naruto nodded shortly, "Yeah…Sasuke, I am." Instead of the wooden shanty town of the other side was a metal metropolis, "Sasuke, what's going on?" he asked as he noticed every single person here was wearing a hitai-ate with a slash through it, "So many nuke-nin…" This one sentence was a mistake however, because at once every nuke-nin in the village heard the academy student and knew they were imposters.

"Hey! Get 'em!" One of the Nin screamed as he flashed through handseals, "We might not have high bounties but we know more than you brats!" Naruto quickly drew the katana from its sheath on his back and impaled the man on it.

His eyes glowed red and claws once again grew from his fingers for the first time since he was ten, **"Sasuke, stay back,"** The Kyuubi said as he tilted his head lazily. Red chakra danced around him like a flame as he moved through the most basic of sword dances Naruto knew. Sasuke, however, wasn't about to be treated like a baby and he attached wire to each of the blades on his shuriken. The boy grinned as he grabbed one of the wires and spun around like a pivot and the Go Kyojin separated the nin in ragged manner. Kyuubi continued to grin as blood soaked into the Ketsueki Senkou and his very skin, **"Y'know it has been nearly twelve years since I've been able to slaughter like this!" ** Kyuubi flashed through handseals, **"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" **the demon raised his clawed fingers to his mouth and let out a ball of black fire from his mouth that mowed down the army of low ranking nuke-nin and left nothing but a pile of burning ash, Kyuubi looked over to Sasuke's side where dead nin also lay, **"Y'know Naruto wanted to keep your hands clean of blood…I guess that I failed in that objective…not like I give a fuck anyway,"** Kyuubi's eyes once again faded to Naruto's violet and the boy collapsed from exhaustion of Kyuubi's chakra forcing its way through his chakra coils

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End A/N: well originally this chapter was going to cover all the way to when Naruto and Sasuke get officially assigned to a team, but it just got too long so I figured I'd split it into two (or three) chapters. The next chapter probably won't be posted for a while due to exams.

Words(fic): 6,823

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	3. Unbecoming

A/N: Erm…yeah…sorry 'bout the long as hell wait…Also (to any who read chapter 2 prior to the post date of this), I will be editing the end of chapter two to fit with this within the next week, so please bear with me until then.

'_Thoughts'_

**Kyuubi**

Story

"Speech"

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What You Don't Know

Chapter 3: Unbecoming

The Great Fox laughed mocking as both brothers emptied their stomachs on the ground when they realized what had happened, what _they_ had done. Sasuke was the first to regain his ground, but remained leaned over, his chest heaving with every breath, strands of midnight colored hair dripped sweat down his face, his clothes were ragged and torn, bits of them torn from the fight. His sharingan flared wildly in both eyes maddeningly, blood dripped slowly from numerous wounds that covered his body as well as from the corner of his mouth, his muscles twitched sporadically and seared with burning pain. His chakra reserves were exhausted and he barely had the strength to move, and yet he forced himself to turn his head to check on his brother.

Naruto was still ridding himself of the last dredges of substance in his stomach, a small puddle of vomit forming at his feet. His sun kissed hair was dyed a deep red with the blood of those the Kyuubi had torn to shreds using his body. A light, sad chuckle escaped from his lips, "Gai-sensei is _not_ going to like this," he vomited once more before stand up straight and gazing longingly toward the sky. Naruto was in better condition than the youngest of the Uchiha, but that was only because of the Kyuubi's healing and his chakra either deflecting or destroying oncoming attacks. Blood still dripped from the blonde's lips, and he was almost positive the blood wasn't his own, the very though disgusted him and he felt bile rising slowly in his throat but managed to swallow it back down. Naruto was in agony because the Fox's chakra burned his skin and forced his muscles to grow dramatically upon entering them and then forced them to shrink again once it left, his breathing was labored and he shook visibly with every breath.

"No," Sasuke responded, trying futilely to get the blood out of his white clothing, "he won't, but that doesn't matter. We accepted this mission as Shinobi and we completed it as any Shinobi would."

"We're not Shinobi though…not yet. This isn't what they asked us to do, we were told to incapacitate them…not to slaughter them!" Naruto muttered animatedly, he fell silent and calmed himself slowly before he continued, "Sasuke, this path we've chosen to walk…it will be dyed red with the blood of many…won't it?" he stated more than asked, but the elder of the two answered anyway.

"Yeah…" he muttered, "it will," he turned back toward the gate, droplets of blood blowing out of his hair to be carried on the wind as he turned, "we should head back now, it is best they know what happened here." Naruto nodded and both of them continued at a slow pace toward the now battle-scarred gate, careful not to step on the bodies of the fallen nin. Both tried to ignore the already horrid smell, to ignore the taste of copper in the air, to ignore the sticky feeling of the blood on their shoes. Neither said anything to the other, too consumed in their own thoughts and regrets to do anything other than walk.

A hole was easily dug in through the gate using Naruto's blade still pulsing a violent crimson from the fresh blood the blade had fed on. The two stood in the no-man's-land for what felt like forever, neither wanted to go back and face Gai or the rest of the team. **Gah! Both of you are idiots! **Kyuubi snarled into Naruto's mind **Why the fuck do I get stuck with the idiot container and his dumbass friend?** Naruto simply ignored the Demon Lord's insults and slid Ketsueki Senkou back into its sheath. Sasuke begin toward the gate to the other half of the town and looked up over it, searching for the guards.

"Naruto," Sasuke hissed cautiously, "there's no one there!" Naruto's head jerked toward Sasuke who nodded toward the gate. Both treaded toward it as silently as they could toward the massive wooden structure, Naruto pressed an ear against it but heard nothing, no groans or moans from sick and dying villagers, no sound of movement or anything, the only sound was a faint, eerie buzzing. Backing away from the gate slowly, not knowing what to expect, both yelped loudly when they were gripped tightly on the shoulder. Trying to reveal as little emotion as possible to the potential enemy, they turned their heads with an expression as stoic as possible on their faces, what they saw was much worse than anything they had expected.

Behind them was an extremely serious Gai, not wearing his trademark smile or babbling about the flames of youth…something bad had happened, something _really_ bad. "We're getting out of here boys," Their sensei stated grimly, "I've already left Neji, TenTen, and Lee outside of the village for long enough without supervision." He grabbed both of them again and leaped over the wall and out of the village. The trip was made in silence, Gai keeping a stoic look on his face, and a thick sense of foreboding looming over the two shinobi-to-be.

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"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto called across the training field, "Tomorrow….tomorrow we finally become Shinobi!" Sasuke nodded in response to the blonde as he retrieved the last of his kunai from around the field.

Four months had passed since the mission. None of team Gai spoke to Naruto or Sasuke anymore, the way the mission had ended….was shattering for the fresh genin. The moment Gai had executed Minozaku Morimeri every single person who appeared to be 'sick' had just fallen dead and then burst into ash, Ryuomaru and his compatriots were nowhere to be found, having vanished without a trace. Sasuke and Naruto trained harder for this, determined to get back at the man, and so they were out on training field number eighty-two at midnight on the day of their genin exams.

"I know Naruto, no reason to keep saying it," The raven haired twelve year-old laughed, "Sheesh, if you keep bringing it up I might start to think you're nervous about it." Naruto stuck his tongue out at the Uchiha and tossed a kunai toward the boy, Sasuke snatched it out of the air as though it was nothing…without his sharingan.

"I'm not nervous Sasuke-teme! I'm just excited!" Naruto's violet eyes sparkled with crimson flecks in the moonlight, further evidence of the use of the demon's chakra, "I'm surprised you're not. I mean, training with Gai was great, but after this we'll have our own sensei to teach us," Naruto stared off into nothing for a moment, golden strands of hair blowing in the wind, "I wonder who we'll get…"

Naruto caught a slim book that Sasuke had thrown to him with a paged marked easily, "Hatake Kakashi, otherwise known as Sharingan Kakashi, is who they're going to stick me with. Which means that you'll likely be stuck with him too since Hokage-sama isn't likely to put us on separate teams," Sasuke stated lazily as he flopped to the ground and proceeded to lie down on his back.

Naruto sat next to him, wrapping his arms around his knees and looking toward the sky, "so, if you've got that figured out oh mighty Uchiha genius," Naruto mocked, "who will the third member of our team be?"

Sasuke thought for moment before grimacing, "Haruno Sakura will be the third member of our team," Naruto turned to his brother in shock, mouth gaping like a fish, begging for an explanation, "I don't like it anymore than you do Naruto," he grunted, " but she's the only person left in the class after eliminating the rest to other teams."

"But….she's fangirly and bleh," Naruto whined, blowing hair out of his face lazily, "I mean yeah, she's smart, but when it came to everything else she failed miserably, almost as badly as I did before you confronted me…." The blonde frowned as he remembered the clumsy pink-haired girl's attempts at taijutsu.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his best friend, "I know that Naruto, but can we honestly say how good she is?" he questioned quietly, "We haven't exactly gone to class recently, we should be happy that we're even allowed to take the exams since we've skipped so much…"

Naruto stood and stretched at this, "Yeah, maybe. Although, they'd never deny the Great Uchiha Sasuke a chance to become a genin," He mocked once more, smiling widely as Sasuke attempted to punch him in the leg, "What? We both know its true, the villagers would go berserk against whoever decided you weren't allowed to take them due to absences, fucking idiots...." he cursed, glaring at nothing and everything, sparing only Sasuke from his hate filled gaze.

Sasuke flipped up from his lazing position and rested a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder, "You've gotta stay calm Naruto," Naruto sighed and nodded at these soft spoken words, "They don't need an excuse to hate you, imagine what would happen if we actually gave them one…" sincere worry laced Sasuke's voice, even being visible in his flaring sharingan eyes. Naruto nodded again and began walking toward the edge of the field, calmly brushing off his friend's hand.

"Let's get home…" The blonde forced out in a voice very much unlike his own, "…long day tomorr-" Naruto was cut off as a kunai buzzed passed his head, severing a few long stands of yellow hair. He turned back toward where Sasuke was standing, a determined grin set on his face, made terrifying to most by his spinning crimson eyes. Naruto returned the older boy's grin, "so what? You want to fight me now?"

"You're being stupid….fighting seems to be the best way to get you out of your moods when you're in them, so I figure 'why the hell not?'" Sasuke grinned wider, pulling yet another kunai from a pouch on his pant's leg, he twirled it around his finger until it reached the tip of his nail, when he swung his arm wide and sent the blade at Naruto. The blonde easily dodged out of the way, speeding off to the side and hiding in the bushes.

Naruto watched as his closest, and only, friend gazed around the field cautiously, trying to find any hint of his presence. Tying smoke tags to five kunai he sent them out in a barrage of many, making sure the five special ones landed in a circle around the raven haired boy. Naruto laughed near silently and made a single hand seal, setting off the tags all at once, covering his brother in thick cloud of smoke. When he heard coughing he rushed into the haze of debris and chakra made smoke, the coughing quickly turned to laughter though as a fist was planted firmly in his stomach.

"I can't believe you actuall-" Sasuke's low voice was cut off when a foot blew into the side of his face, disorienting him and sending him a few feet to the side. He heard clapping before finding Naruto's foot lodged under his chin, sending him high in the air. Grunting Sasuke quickly formed seals, "KATON: GOUKAKAYU NO JUTSU!" he cried as loudly as he could, expelling a ball of fire easily twice the size of Naruto's smoke. The blonde's eyes widened and he frantically entered the Ichi Kokudo Senkou to avoid the ball of burning gas.

Sasuke landed gracefully on the ground and caught Naruto's fist in his hand and slammed a palm under Naruto's elbow, eliciting a yelp of pain from the blonde, "F-fucker…" Naruto grunted, his left arm hanging limp at his side, "But two can play that game!" he roared, rushing forward and pulling Ketsueki Senkou and its sheath from his side and slashing rapidly with it, making sure the blade didn't slip from the sheath even slightly for fear that Sasuke would be hurt. Sasuke back flipped away from his opponent, trying to escape back to the trees, Naruto relented and leaped into the trees himself, allowing Sasuke a reprieve.

'_We've never actually fought it out at full before…' _Naruto thought, trying to think of a way to combat the Uchiha, _'we know all of the same techniques…but we use them differently…'_ A grin crossed his features at this, sharp canines showing. Naruto launched himself off of his perch toward the Uchiha's chakra signature, forming a hand seal with his remaining arm every few meters, once he was within arms reach and suddenly turned back toward the field, bursting through the barricade of branches and leaves. Seconds later Sasuke leapt through with the same brilliant display, rushing toward Naruto who was now standing in the middle of the field with his back turned.

Sasuke pulled back a fist and Naruto spun around, his arm extended and his hand balled into a fist. Their hands met with a sickening _crunch _as their knuckles exploded through skin in a shower of blood and shattered bone, but neither slowed, Sasuke slammed a fist into Naruto's face and Naruto rammed his knee into Sasuke's gut. They remained like that for a few seconds before both fell to the ground, exhausted. Heavy breaths fell from their lips, practically gasping for air. Sasuke was gripping his ribs, clearly in pain and Naruto's cheek bone had also punctured his skin, he cradled his arm against his chest.

"B-better now….dumbass?" Sasuke wheezed out, pain from numerous broken ribs evident in his voice, but concern showed in his fading sharingan as they returned to obsidian.

"Y-yeah…fuck….we're not going to make it…are we?" the blonde asked, closing his eyes from the rising sun. He heard grunting to the side and turned his head to look at Sasuke despite the pain. "What the fuck do you think you're doing Sasuke?" he asked when the Uchiha heir picked himself up from the ground.

"We are going to make it to the exams Naruto," Sasuke hissed, grabbing Naruto's good arm with both hands and pulling the younger boy to his feet, "and we are _going _to pass," slinging his arm around Naruto's shoulders and moving Naruto's arm around his he began to limp off the field, "we have to become shinobi Naruto," midnight strands of hair fell in his face with the cool morning breeze, and he saw Naruto give the slightest of nods out of the corner of his eye.

"Hope you don't mind a little bit of pain Sasuke-nii," without giving him a chance to answer a red-gold aura surrounded them, sewing their skin back together and mending broken bones, leaving their lesser injuries alone, "the fur ball says we owe him one," Naruto muttered, a lighthearted tone back in his voice.

Sasuke laughed, "I think we owe him a lot over the past few years, as unfortunate as that is," the sun was steadily climbing in the sky and yet the two remained unworried, lazily making their way back through the village, laughing happily and acting oblivious to the glares of rage that followed them everywhere.

Konoha was one of the most magnificent cities in all of the Elemental Countries for a reason, before Kyuubi's attack almost all of the buildings had been carved from the gigantic trees that shot up in the village and that formed the forest that stretched on for many kilometers outside of the village walls. After the attack most residential buildings were strictly man-made, but most of the owners made an attempt to blend them in with the buildings that remained carved from the original trees. Warm storefronts opened to the air of the city, the market swarmed with shoppers, especially this close to graduation. Neither boy paid any of this any mind as they headed toward the academy that stood at the base of the Hokage monument, however, as they neared the building they were met with resistance that quickly dispersed as soon as they noticed the glares of determination on both boy's faces.

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Five hours later both boys could be found outside, Naruto sitting on his old swing hanging from the tree and Sasuke was gently pushing him into the air. No one knew why the two did this, it seemed an odd thing for the pair to do given how old they usually acted, or so the citizens of Konoha thought. As far as the two brothers were concerned it was simply an escape, the soft rhythm of up and down, of push and pull, simply allowed the world to melt away around them. Sasuke scowled at the mutterings of his naïve classmates and their parents, at the incessant whispers of the carefree and unknowing. Congratulations were already being passed around, despite the fact that the test was not over, not a single one worried that they might not pass, although he now knew that they should actually be _hoping _that their child would fail, fail and never have to go through the horrors that a shinobi must bear the burden of on a daily basis.

The whine of the Academy bell screeched loudly across the courtyard, signifying the end of their break. Naruto flipped off of the swing at the top of its arc, landing next to the raven haired Uchiha that he called brother, "Let's go Sasuke!" the blonde exclaimed exuberantly, putting way too much effort into sounding cheery, and he rushed toward the doors. Blurring down the hall the blonde was glared at by teachers and students alike, all thinking the same word 'idiot', yet none of this affected the boy with sun-kissed hair, the morning's depression returning to him at a rapid pace. He tried to shake it off as he came to a stop in front of the classroom, he stood there, as if petrified, until he heard a soft, feminine voice whisper in his ear, "you'll do fine Naru-kun." Shaking off his stupor he glanced around suspiciously, but the only person around was Sasuke twenty feet down the hall.

"Man," Naruto mused, "that was weird…even for me…" shaking his head once more he opened the door to the class and made his way to his seat in the middle of the room quickly, awaiting the arrival of Umino Iruka and Ideka Mizuki(1).

The scar faced Chuunin and his silver-haired partner appeared moments after Sasuke took his seat, both standing proud at the front of the enormous classroom, a soft glimmer in Iruka's eyes as he began his speech, "For me, these past few years have been momentous, having had the opportunity to instruct the next generation of shinobi is possibly the most important thing I have done in my years in the service of this great nation. Each and every one of you has the potential to became more than any before you, and I hope that this becomes so, for your sakes as well as for the sake of this village," barely noticeable tears formed at the corners of his eyes, "Now, when Mizuki calls your name you will step through the door behind me to take the physical portion of the test." With this Iruka disappeared through the doorway and Mizuki started calling names from a short list, not many had based the written portion it seemed.

Those left in the classroom started conversing among themselves, rumors of the exam having fatal consequences started up once a second name was called even though the first person had yet to return, but this were quickly dismissed as being absurd. Naruto was dashing around the room, setting up various tricks and pranks for his own amusement, as well as Sasuke's of course. Both snickered when a vat of honey dropped on Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, Sasuke's two biggest fangirls by far, causing the two to start panicking about their 'beautiful hair and precious clothes' and how 'Sasuke would never go out with them looking like that.' Their complaints came to a quick halt when Sakura was called into the back room by Mizuki, closely followed by Hyuuga Hinata, the shyest of their classmates despite her upbringing. Naruto abandoned his pranks shortly after this, declaring the remaining people to be 'too small of an audience,' and turned to a conversation with Sasuke instead.

"So…" the son of the fourth began awkwardly, "we never really discussed our fight this morning…" Sasuke looked at him strangely, it was odd for Naruto to fumble over his words these days, "I just wanted to say that…I…apologize for my behavior earlier," he bowed quickly to avoid attention and held his head low in shame until Sasuke slapped him on the back of his head.

"Stop being such an idiot Naruto…you're acting stranger than usual," Naruto stared wide-eyed at the Uchiha, shocked by the response, "you have nothing to apologize for otouto. We both already did using our fists and blood," the two shared a small smile and all that had been wrong was right again just like that, they would not discuss it again unless they were discussing the fight itself and not the reasons behind it.

"Well, you are about to be called, aniki, the next time we see eachother we'll both be wearing hitai-ate and officially be shinobi of Konohagakure," Naruto whispered too low for any but Sasuke to hear and sure enough, his name was called immediately after. _'I just hope that I'll be wearing one too,' _Naruto thought solemnly as the only person he had ever cared about walked toward the door calmly and confidently.

He knew he was next, and he could hear the whispers of the few remaining students now, all commenting on how he was nothing compared to Sasuke, or how they would never understand why 'Uchiha-san still associated himself with such trash.'

**Damn brat…**The Kyuubi growled out, **if you're going to be depressed, at least have the courtesy to do so out loud so I don't have to deal with your damn shit thoughts. Fucking monkeys and their goddamn self-esteem issues, bastards can take out shinobi three times their age, but don't think they can pass a shitty ass test to become an even shittier genin of a giant shithole of village that's filled with even tinier fucks that are so self-centered the fucking sun is actual tempted to revolve around them they're so damn convinced of their own importance. **Naruto's expression got even more disturbed with each word that left the giant fox's maw, it seemed oddly…encouraging…

_'Are you trying to make me more…confident…?' _the question seemed absurd to the blonde and the only response he got was a loud snore so he shrugged his shoulders and simply wrote it off as one of the demon's 'things.'

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Mizuki yelled from the front of the room, eliciting laughter from the remaining students, "I've called your name three times now, get the fuck up here!" Naruto yelped and rushed through the doorway as fast as he could, knowing that none of the judges were going to cut him any slack, even if he was only late by a few seconds. He bowed quickly as soon as he rushed through the door, mumbling out a quick apology.

"Uzumaki, shut up so we can begin the test," the head judge growled out resentfully, the sheer power in his voice humbling the blonde jinchuuriki, "We shall now begin the genin examination of Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure." The room went dark around him, the high table where the judges sat disappeared and a spectral figure appeared before him, the ghostly figure was old and scarred beyond recognition, it was covered with what was once regal battle armor, but what had become naught but scraps of leather and the tattered remains of steel. It was missing its left eye and had a scar just under its right that appeared to be from a burn.

The specter began to speak, a haunting and grisly tone, "Uzumaki Naruto," it drawled, the words coming after the movements of its mouth, "You are here to be tested on your skills as a shinobi, to be tested to find out if you are truly strong enough to be a shinobi of Konohagakure, I am glad one such as yourself has come again, my…services…have not been requested for a very long time." It laughed coarsely, like two stones rubbing together in the back of its phantom throat, causing Naruto to shudder involuntarily.

Hesitantly, Naruto approached the specter, "And…what exactly are those services?" the blonde questioned nervously, despite his experiences with Kyuubi he still wasn't exactly _used_ to seeing _ghosts. _'_Maybe I'm going insane…maybe none of this is real and the judges are all just looking at me funny cause I'm gazing off into space…'_ He thought drearily, jumping with a start when his thoughts were interrupted by an icy sensation on his forehead, "wha' the?"

The specter was standing over him, long skeletal fingers placed against his forehead, long strands of flesh hanging off from them at the base of each knuckle, "my job, dear boy, is to test you as the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha has declared. It seems he does not trust the impartial judges to be, well, impartial," the ghostly figure said lightly, as though it were the funniest thing he had heard in years, "but that is not important, what is important is your test." The figure floated backward effortlessly, the room evaporating around him as he went, the darkness giving way to a candlelit chamber, a simple table in the middle that the specter seated himself behind, "not quite what you expected is it?" the specter laughed again, "you will take the same test as everyone else did, yours will just be conducted by me instead of by the oafs that currently wait in the real world. So, if you'd please display your control over the Henge…" Naruto smirked and quickly did each and every thing the specter asked of him, with each jutsu completed a slip of paper appeared in front of the shrouded judge, and by the end of the exam there was a pile that easily reached the specter's nose.

"Ummm, sir?" Naruto began, "You said I was taking the same exam as everyone else, right?" The specter nodded, not interrupting the genin-to-be's question, "did every one have to do _all_ of those justsu?" The specter templed its grotesque fingers across its face.

"No, they did not. Sandaime Hokage-sama requested that I test you to the fullest extent of your ability, and, I must say, you far surpassed where he thought you would be," Naruto saw what appeared to be a smile beneath the specter's hood, barely recognizable on its ghostly visage, "and mine as well. Good luck, Namikaze Naruto."

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Naruto found himself back in the original judges room, a large sign now stood behind him, reading 'PASSED' with a miniature version of the Hokage giving a thumbs up. The top judge growled something inaudibly and tossed the hitai-ate at the blonde, "Uzumaki passes…" Naruto's eyes alit with something akin to shock as he held the metal and cloth in his hands, the band a faded black and the plaque itself was a shining silver, standing proudly with the symbol of Konoha emblazoned on its middle. He smile truly and rushed out the door to find his brother.

Seeing Sasuke, he rushed over to the boy, "Sasuke! I passed…" Naruto's joy turned to disbelief in an instant, the Uchiha prodigy did not hold a hitai-ate…

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A/N: I'm an asshole aren't I? I don't update for a year, then I write my shortest chapter yet, and it ends like _that?_ I'm almost mad about it myself. It will NOT be anywhere near as long for the next update though, I promise.


	4. Silence

A/N: Some of you will really hate me at the beginning of the chapter, not all is as it seems however. Before anyone says anything though, no, I am not making Naruto and Sasuke extremely powerful, no matter how much it seems I am. That will become very clear once they start fighting people like Zabuza and Gaara.

_**WARNING:**_ Some parts of this chapter are from Sasuke's PoV

Disclaimer: I do not own…*stands up* y'know what, fuck it, you all know this already.

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What You Don't Know

Chapter 4: Silence

Sasuke just stood there, looking at the ground solemnly, "fuck off Naruto. I've got stuff to do…" the raven haired boy stalked off into the village main, not sparing Naruto a second glance. The blonde stood stock still, the world evaporating around him, all of their hopes…all their dreams…no…that wasn't possible, Sasuke _couldn't _fail, it just wasn't possible.

"Something else is going on here…" Naruto mumbled and a growl in his mind answered quickly, **'Yeah, you two **_**obviously**_** underestimated how much they hate you.'**

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He paid no attention to the glares of resentment as he walked down the street. He just couldn't find it in himself to care anymore. He didn't care that his brother wasn't following him, and he ignored the little voice in his head that told him he should go back, it wasn't Naruto's fault after all. He subconsciously flared his sharingan, scaring off any villagers that might think to confront him.

The wind blew up around him as he entered the Uchiha Compound, fanning his hair into a magnificent of black and blue before it settled in a mane across his face. Sprinting to his room he packed a small travel pack quickly, if Konoha didn't value his worth then he'd just have to go somewhere that did, many of the countries would kill for an Uchiha anyway. Tossing the bag over his shoulder, he wrote a short note to Naruto, explaining why he was leaving and to tell him that he didn't know where he was going, but that he would contact him as a he got there, leaving it on the kitchen table as he left the house, heading rapidly toward the gates of Konoha and the outside world.

'_Yesssss, Sassssukkkee, come to meee, you sssshallll find your place here,'_ A voice hissed in his ear as he left the city, as though carried on the wind from far off. The guards didn't stop him, they couldn't, he was just a civilian and civilian travel wasn't controlled. Didn't mean they couldn't tell the Hokage though.

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"Let me go after him!" Naruto demanded, slamming his fist down on the ancient wooden desk, sending a spider web off cracks along its surface which quickly repaired themselves, "please…we both know why he left and we both know he shouldn't have failed that test…" Naruto's violet eyes bleed to crimson and hints of blood could be seen in the few tears he let fall from his eyes, "Kyuubi and I-" Sarutobi held up a hand to silence the new genin.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you are a genin of this village and are bound to my orders, and I say that no one is to go after him, he is not shinobi and he left of his own will," The old man flinched slightly as Naruto's pleading gaze sharpened to a glare, the demonic eyes bringing back memories best left forgotten.

Naruto reached behind his head and untied his hitai-ate, placing it on the desk gently, "You honestly think I give a shit about this _village_? All it has ever done is scorn me, abuse me, _hate_ me," Naruto said sharply, "and now it is doing the same to my brother, and I _can't _allow that," he pulled a kunai from his pocket, twirling it around his finger before placing it on the cool metal of his forehead protector, "and if this village won't allow me to go after my brother, then I suppose I will just have to separate myself from it," Naruto turned his gaze back to the Hokage, "but remember this, this village _needs_ me, I am jinchuuriki, a living weapon."

"Naruto…" the Sandaime started, only to be cut off by the boy again

"I hear Kumo has a nice collection of us already, and I'm the Yondaime Hokage's son, I think the Raikage would be _thrilled_ to have me among his forces," Naruto mentioned almost as an afterthought, though his meaning was clear.

"Uzumaki Naruto, calm down!" Sarutobi finally lost patience with the blond in front of him, "You may go after Uchiha Sasuke, you were going to even before you came in here, but do not think this will go unpunished," he told Naruto bluntly, the promise of physical pain very obvious, "now go, get out of my sight."

Naruto nodded, his expression unreadable when he grabbed his hitai-ate and tied it back around his head before leaping out the window, leaving only wind in his wake.

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Sasuke stopped in a clearing, tired and out of breath. The voice still hissed in his ear every few seconds, giving him directions and encouragement. He followed them without argument or question, who it was or where it was leading him, _'Ssssommeone issss coming after youuuu Sssssassssuuuukkkkeee, hurrrryy noww, you are verrrryy close,' _it hissed again, seeming just as distant now as it did back in Konoha.

Sasuke nodded and rushed ahead again, feet barely touching each landing before he launched himself forward, determined to reach the voice and its promises. Stopping suddenly when he burst through the tree line to be greeted by two enormous statues on either side of a gigantic waterfall, "Uchiha Madara…and the Shodai Hokage…" he whispered in awe. Sasuke spun on his heel when he heard someone crash through the trees.

It didn't stop as he had though, it gave out a cry and punched him hard in the face, sending him flying bake at the lake that the waterfall poured into. "Sasuke!" Naruto roared, rushing toward him while he still flew through the air, kicking him in the gut, knocking him back at the statues.

Instinctively latching onto the stone figure with chakra, Sasuke ran to the top of Uchiha Madara's head, only to find Naruto opposite him, atop the head of the Shodai, "What are you _doing _here, Naruto?" Sasuke sneered, "The Hokage has no power to make civilians stay in Konoha."

"I came after you on my own will…is this how it is going to end Sasuke? Years of having only each other to rely on ended cause some judges decided they hate me more than they love the Uchiha? Is that what you want?" Naruto demanded over the roar of the falls, "Is it?!"

"What if it is Naruto? What if I'm tired of carrying the burden of that damn demon your own damn father sealed into you?" Sasuke screamed back at the one he had called brother for so long.

Naruto sighed and shook his head, "you're lucky I know you're not really being you right now. Ojii-san is going to let you become a genin, he looked over your tests and knows that you should've passed at the top of the class," Sasuke gave him a look that said 'so?' and Naruto grinned, "I guess I'll just have to beat some sense into you then. 'Course, I won't use Kyuubi against you, I think that'd be a little too much for you to handle Sasuke-teme."

Sasuke flared his sharingan angrily, a third mark appearing with the other two in each eye, "As if you could ever beat me without the demon," the two glared at eachother, crimson meeting blood red, "someone with power, true power, needs _me, _we can kill Itachi if we study under him!" he called out, tossing shurikan at Naruto.

"Oh yeah, let's all listen to the strange voices in our heads!" Naruto retorted, twisting around the spinning blades, "Cause, y'know, that's a great idea. In fact, from now on I'll do exactly what Kyuubi tells me to, 'cause that makes sense and all," Naruto continued sarcastically, flashing through a series of handsigns and launching a massive ball of red flame at Sasuke.

"What would you know?" Sasuke screamed, matching the blondes jutsu with orange flame, causing an explosion over the great lake beneath them that could be seen for miles, "you who _I _saved!"

"Oh yeah," Naruto drawled, "Cause you were in such a great state at the time, Sasuke!" he pushed against the rock with his chakra, propelling himself at Sasuke, he flipped in midair, using his speed to strike Sasuke in the chin, only for a plume of smoke to appear in his place. "Cowar-" Naruto was cut off when he felt Sasuke's Go Kyojin dig into his shoulder.

"I can see every move you are going to make before you even make it Naruto, you don't stand a chance, just give up," Sasuke whispered into the blonde's ear as he drove the points in deeper, piercing his lung and causing him to cough up blood.

Naruto laughed despite the blood pouring from the wound, "oh yeah?" he grinned, his hands at his sides, "did you see this?" he jerked his right elbow back into a bend, sending Ketsueki Senkou through the sleeve and into Sasuke's side, "cause I don't think you did if the look on your face is any indication. Just give up Sasuke, we both know I have the kill here…" Sasuke glared at these words, tearing Go Kyojin out of Naruto's shoulder and pulled himself off of Ketsueki Senkou, leaping awkwardly to the side, "Please don't do this Sasuke…" Naruto begged.

"Don't do what? Don't beat you to a bloody pulp?" Sasuke sneered as the voice whispered in his head again, _'yesssss kill himmm,'_ "I am GOING to win Naruto!" the raven haired boy started weaving chakra into the giant shurikan, twisting it and shifting it into a single blade, into a zanbatō.

Naruto sighed and bowed his head, whispering a slight apology to Ketsueki Senkou, having pulled it from his sleeve, "I'm sorry…it appears you will have to feed on the blood of a friend today…" Naruto raised his head, a wind picking up around him, contained by will alone as the ground around Sasuke's feet sparked and lightning jumped between the rocks, "You know you can't beat me with a blade Sasuke, don't even try it, it won't end well…" Sasuke wasn't listening anymore though, he sent lightning coursing down his blade and rushed at Naruto. Moving only slightly, placing his much smaller blade in the perfect spot to deflect the zanbatō, sending an edge of wind along Ketsueki Senkou.

Sasuke tried to strike him again, using the momentum gained from the deflection to add to his own speed and sliced at Naruto's legs, this time Naruto blocked before the blade even got close and countered, leaving a long gash across Sasuke's chest. Sasuke grunted and jumped back, rushing forward, slashing wildly at Naruto, only for each strike to be blocked and countered easily.

Once again Sasuke leaped backward, lifting the giant blade even with his chest, a feat only possible with chakra, "Damn it! Die already!" the Uchiha screamed, charging at Naruto, desperately trying to run him through. Naruto mirrored his actions, running Ketsueki Senkou down the much larger blade, avoiding a lethal blow as he ran himself onto it, driving himself down it until Ketsueki Senkou pierced Sasuke's lung. Four Konoha nin, jounin by the looks of them, entered the valley as both boys fell to the ground and the world began to fade out.

"I win Sasuke-teme…those four will drag us back to Konoha…and the thing that is controlling you will lose hold…" Naruto grunted as the world faded to black around them, "You owe me big for this…"

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Four days later Sasuke awoke in an empty hospital room, the walls glowing white as though they were freshly painted, there was no furniture other than his bed and a chair that was occupied by the only other person in the room. The man in the chair wore standard jounin gear, he had gravity defying silver-grey hair and his hitai-ate was covering his left eye and a face mask over his mouth and nose. He was bent over, clearly asleep so Sasuke disregarded him for the moment, well he did until the man was suddenly awake and back in his sight, "Yo," the man, who Sasuke only now recognize as Hatake 'Sharingan' Kakashi, said simply, "How do you feel?"

Sasuke stared at the strange jounin for a moment before responding, "Like shit," he groaned, "What happened…?"

"After going over the events, we came to the conclusion that a man known as Orochimaru gained a foothold in your mind in your depression from failing the exam and seemingly failing at all of your hopes and dreams, he used this to try and drive you to him and would have done a very good job if it weren't for one Namikaze Naruto. Naruto-san chased after you, determined to bring you back at any cost and drove his blade into your chest in order to knock you out long enough for Orochimaru's hold to be broken," the famed jounin stated in a happy, carefree tone.

"Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed, sitting up suddenly and looking around the room frantically searching for his brother.

"Naruto-san isn't here," Sasuke turned his attention back to the jounin, "His chasing after you came at a price and he is currently paying that price, as he has been since he woke up three days ago," Hatake said stoically, "your brother is being punished for _your _actions, for _your _weakness, I hope you realize that," the man cautioned as he stood and walked out the door.

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A whip cracked sharply, its spiked length digging into flesh, "have you learned your lesson yet, demon spawn?" Naruto mumbled something under his breath in response to the man who carried out his _punishment_, "what was that, demon?"

Naruto laughed harshly, his throat dry and sore from days without water, "I said…go…fuck…yourself…" the whip cracked again, causing Naruto to grunt in pain, "Damn Sally," he said through gritted teeth, "you hit like a fucking girl."

The shinobi assigned to his punishment dropped the whip and walked up to the wall that Naruto was chained to slowly, "You think this is a joke you little bastard?" the man gripped his hair and jerked his head back, "little demon needs to learn some manners."

"Ohhh, kinky, not even going to ask for my number first?" Naruto joked, determined not to let the man see his pain, "I'm not sure if I'm entirely comfortable with that Sally," Naruto saw the man grin from the corners of his eyes and winced slightly.

"You think this is just one big joke? That you can just do whatever you want and get away with it? I will _never_ forgive you for all of those that you killed, for the families you destroyed, for killing our _Hokage_," the man sneered. Naruto winced, _shit…one of those…_

The man broke the chains on his arms and slammed a knee into his back, a sickening crack sounding around the room, "Having fun now _demon_? Enjoying this!?" he snapped Naruto's right arm and left it to hang limply at the blonde's side. The man suddenly stopped, a shocked expression on his face, he fell forward at Naruto's feet, a kunai sticking out of the back of his head.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" the ANBU operative asked and Naruto nodded quickly, "we should get you to the hospital," Naruto shook his head and stood shakily after the chains around his legs were unlocked.

"No, I'll be fine, just give me a second…" suddenly the flesh that had been torn from his back started to regrow from the tissue that was left at either side of the wound, the nauseating smell of burning flesh filling the room, "See, good as new…" Naruto grunted through the pain, "Now, who can I help you ANBU-san?"

"Hokage-sama ordered me to retrieve you, Uchiha-san is awake and your punishment is over, you have been ordered to report to his office for debriefing and information on your team assignment," The ANBU repeated the orders quickly and formally, his tone never changing, "I am to lead you there."

Naruto nodded and motioned for the ANBU to lead the way out without saying a word, following the elite shinobi closely on the way out of the interrogation rooms, "So, what was up with that guy anyway? I thought I was paying for my crimes, why did you kill him?"

The ANBU didn't slow or change pace in any way, he simply kept leading Naruto out of the place as he continued monotonously, "He violated the Sandaime's law, even if you are already aware of the Kyuubi, others are still bound by the law and the penalty is still death," Naruto nodded slightly in understanding.

_'So…that's what it means to be one of the elite…to be emotionless in a mission, no matter how big or small…'_ Naruto realized, silently observing every feature of the building as he was lead through it, quickly coming to the exit of the compound. When Naruto stepped through the threshold he slammed his eyes shut, the light of the outside world blinding after being locked in a dark room for three days, "I can get to the tower by myself from here ANBU-san, thank you for the assistance," Naruto bowed slightly and the ANBU nodded, disappearing in a swirl of leaves and dust.

Naruto leapt to the rooftops and sat on the side, his legs dangling off the edge, "What the hell is going on recently…?" he murmured under his breath, sighing heavily, "Sasuke fails and runs away, Ojii-san freaks out when I want to go after him, Sasuke freaks out when I reach him and tries to kill me…" Closing his eyes Naruto looks to the sky, "Otou-san…what would you do…?" The blonde asks weakly, a cool breeze brushing against his skin. Sighing once more, he stands up and looks toward the Hokage monument and the face of his father sculpted into the side of the mountain, "Why me? Why did you do this to me?" he questioned helplessly, almost demanding answers from the giant stone face that stood so far from where he was.

The unknown Namikaze heir sank back down, knowing no answers were coming, "Damn it…" he whispered, "why me you fucking bastard….why your own son…?" a single tear fell from each of his eyes, cleaning a line through the dirt and grime that had gathered over the past days. Turning away from the monuments angrily, he ran toward the Hokage tower, ignoring the soft voice that once again whispered in his ear, 'I am sorry little one.'

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Sasuke walked slowly to the tower, dressed once again in his blue jacket, white pants, and white shirt, Go Kyojin had been confiscated and was waiting for him in the Hokage's office, the place he was required to go anyway. Kakashi had never returned once he left, but his words still ran through Sasuke's mind, _'Naruto was being punished because of me…'_ he thought sadly, angry at himself for being fooled so easily, he had heard of Orochimaru, everyone had and the Uchiha had special reasons to fear the man. Orochimaru had been trying to steal their eyes since he had gone renegade, since before the Yondaime had even died.

Sasuke walked the entire way without looking, his head hung low, staring at only his feet, but that didn't stop him from feeling the glares on his back. To the every day person in Konoha he was no better than his brother now, both Itachi and Naruto, in their eyes and he couldn't entirely blame them. He felt like a hypocrite, he was so determined to kill Itachi because he had left, because he had betrayed the village, and he had nearly done exactly the same thing. Sure, Itachi massacred a clan before he left, but that part…well, Sasuke knew his parents were no saints. Administrative nin called to him when he stepped through the doors to the tower, ordering him to wait to be called up to the Hokage's office, but he ignored them.

_'I've been doing that a lot recently,'_ Sasuke thought sardonically, _'first I ignore Naruto, then I follow a freaking voice in my fucking _head_,'_ he laughs at himself, angry at his own stupidity. "I'm such a fucking idiot…" he mutters, sitting outside of the door to the Hokage's office, waiting to be called in, Sarutobi would have noticed him by now.

He waited several minutes before two foreign shinobi stepped out of the office, the first was a tall tanned girl, her hair cropped above her shoulders and her eyes like a cat's, a Kumo hitai-ate tied around her forehead. The second was a much younger boy, probably about Naruto's age, with crimson hair that spiked at the tips, he had dark circles around his aqua eyes and a tattoo bearing the kanji for 'love' was above his left eye, he carried a large gourd on his back and his hitai-ate was wrapped around his arm, showing him as a shinobi of Suna. Both looked at him quickly before continuing down the hall, neither speaking to the other nor showing any sign of even noticing the other. "You can come in now Sasuke," the voice of the Third Hokage rang out from the room.

Sasuke nodded and walked into the room, standing in front of the old wooden desk that Naruto had accidentally tried to destroy only four days before. "You requested my presence Hokage-sama?" Sasuke asked respectfully, careful not to upset the man that could decide his fate.

"Indeed I did Sasuke-kun," Sarutobi said kindly, "I have something that I believe you should have gotten four days ago," reaching under his desk, Sarutobi pulled out a forehead protector with the emblem of Konoha engraved into it and set onto a blue cloth and slid it across to the youngest Uchiha, "how have you been feeling since your return Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke sighed and sagged his shoulders, "Like shit...I hate Itachi for what he did, for leaving the village, for leaving his brother, for leaving _me_, and then…" Sasuke stopped speaking and looked down at his feet, ashamed again of what had happened, "I nearly did the same thing…" Sasuke said, self-pity evident in his voice. The Hokage sighed loudly, trying to think of a way to cheer the boy up, to show him that it wasn't his fault.

"Orochimaru…can be very persuasive…" the aged man said wistfully, "Unfortunately, when he was younger I was the one to teach him. He, along with my other two students went on to become the famed Sannin of Konoha, around the time Namikaze Minato was gaining fame in the Third Great Shinobi War, Orochimaru was conducting experiments, trying to gain immortality, the man was obsessed with power. I had the opportunity to stop him…but…I couldn't…" Sarutobi templed his hands under his chin as he continued, "despite all of his faults, I still valued him as though he were my son and I couldn't bring myself to kill him…" the Sandaime closed his eyes, "Your brother…he chose his path in life, you were about to be forced onto a path you never asked for, you are not the villain here."

Sasuke nodded, trying to seem reassured, "When will Naruto-" he started to ask right as the door opened and a blonde dressed in black and red stepped through the door. His eyes still shined red, though they had lost their demonic glow, and the red streaks that had gone through his hair were now a deep crimson, immediately after he walked in he grabbed Ketsueki Senkou the corner of the room wear it sat and strapped it to his side instead of its usual position at his side, "nevermind," the raven haired boy laughed, "he has a way of doing that."

"What'd I miss?" Naruto asked with a blank expression on his face, one that changed to grin when he noticed the hitai-ate wrapped around Sasuke's head, "Told you he was going to give it to you cause those judges were lying bastards."

Sasuke nodded, smiling back at his brother, "Yeah, I know, it wasn't really-" Sasuke stopped when Naruto shook his head, telling him that he understood already, "right…so…I feel I should apologize for the past few days then, I hear if I woke up earlier you wouldn't have been tortured nearly as much."

Naruto laughed and gave a foxish smile, "eh, don't worry about it, Sally hit like a bitch anyway," Sasuke looked at Naruto like he was insane when he said this, "What? He did," Naruto half-whined.

"Sally?" Sasuke questioned, both of them completely ignoring the Hokage, falling into an old routine they had when Naruto acted stupid, "Is that your new girlfriend Naruto?"

The blonde laughed loudly, "He wishes," Naruto said simply and laughed again, and a disgusted look appeared on Sasuke's face as he imagined it, "He did, he was talking about punishing me and teaching me lessons and such, it really started to make me gag." The two shared a laugh before Sarutobi did a fake cough to get their attention, "oh, right, hi Ojii-san," Naruto said sheepishly.

"Now that you're both paying attention," Sarutobi began seriously, "I should tell you that your other teammate has been rather patient over the past few days waiting for both of you, though I'm not sure how much longer that will last," he warned with a meaningful glance, "She has already passed your sensei's exam and you two passed it unknowingly on your last mission with Gai. Your sensei has requested that you meet him and your other teammate in training field four, I suggest you head there quickly," Naruto and Sasuke both nodded an affirmative, "now, you have something to ask Sasuke?"

"Umm, yes sir, I do. Who were those two that came out of your office while I was waiting?" Sasuke asked timidly, slightly worried he was overstepping some boundary with the old shinobi.

The Sandaime Hokage laughed lightly, "Those were Nii Yugito and Sabaku no Gaara, they were here handling some negotiations about something that I'm sure you will find out about soon enough, is that all?" Sasuke nodded slightly, not convinced of the average nature of the two that the Hokage implied, "Very well then, go meet the rest of your team."

Naruto and Sasuke both turned and left silently, very different thoughts going through their minds as they exited the tower. Outside was very different to both of them, the atmosphere had changed drastically from what it was when both had last been on the streets. Pure hate and loathing was nearly tangible in the air and the fear was suffocating, these feelings only accentuated when the villagers caught site of them, of the blades both of them bore. No villager dared stay in their path, convinced now that not only was the youngest Uchiha under the 'demon's' spell, but so was the Hokage. Word traveled fast in a shinobi village and the death of the man that was put in charge of Naruto's punishment had already traveled and become public knowledge.

Both did their best to ignore the villagers, to ignore the glares and frightened mothers quickly leading their children away. This was easy for them, distracted as they were by the questions that Sarutobi had brought up. "You held back," Sasuke accused suddenly.

"So what if I did? You did too after all," Naruto retorted, the fox's laughter starting up deep in his mind again, "This isn't really the place to talk about it though, now is it?" Naruto continued walking, moving quicker through the streets and alleys that led to the training fields of Konoha, the whispers finally reaching his ears.

"I was trying to _kill _you and you risked holding back so that you didn't hurt me to much!" Sasuke yelled as soon as they were out of earshot, "You risked _dying_ so that I wouldn't be in the hospital to long! What the hell is wrong with you Naruto!?" The raven haired boy slammed the shorter one against a wall hard, hold him up by his shoulder.

Naruto smirked lightly despite the bones that were already regrowing in his shoulder from where Sasuke had broke them, "The damn fox wouldn't let me die, dumbass. He needs me to live," Naruto reasoned, "Besides, what would it honestly matter if I died? The world would be rid of the most powerful demon alive forever and the village would no longer think you were under my control. You'd also have the power to kill your brother, but that's another matter entirely, isn't it?" Naruto growled out, causing Sasuke to drop him in shock.

"How…?" the Uchiha muttered quietly, confused by Naruto's words, "How…how do you know about that…?"

Naruto sneered slightly as he dusted himself off, "C'mon Sasuke, we both live in the same place and you have a massive library, you know how many hints to the Mangekyou Sharingan are in there? There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of references in those old journals, it was only a matter of time until I found out," he pushed Sasuke lightly, sending the still shocked boy tumbling, "So what? Gonna kill me now? Going to kill me so you can kill your other brother?"

"No!" Sasuke denied, "Never that Naruto! There's got to be another way to get it…I don't even need it to beat him!" Naruto laughed and punched Sasuke on the arm lightly, a confused expression crossing Sasuke's face again.

"Good answer," the blonde said simply, his crimson eyes flickering erratically, "damn fox…" he muttered, "he's changing my body way too quickly for my liking…gotta stop using his power…"

Sasuke was about to say something when a fist came from nowhere and slammed into Naruto's face, "Took you two idiots long enough to get here!" Sasuke gaped in horror as he turned to the voice, "I've been waiting for you two for four DAYS!" Haruno Sakura was standing there in all of her fangirly glory, a pink-red coat covering the upper half of a red shirt and pink pants coming down to here ankles, "Why the hell did you two go and beat each other up and leave me with the perverted sensei of ours!" her hitai-ate was on a thin red band of cloth that she had tied around her neck, just above here the bottom of her pink hair fell.

Sasuke looked to where she had pointed and saw, Hatake Kakashi standing there innocently, his eyes somehow curving into smiles and an orange book in his hands, "Now now Sakura, that wasn't very nice," he scolded and Sakura's emerald eyes lit up with fury as she started chasing the famous jounin around the training field. Naruto still lay on the ground, swirls going around his eyes dramatically, and Sasuke sighed.

_'This is going to be…interesting…'_ he concluded and sighed again, trying to wake up his brother.

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A/N: Told you it wouldn't be as long. Yes I realize I still haven't corrected the end of chapter 2, I'll get around to it eventually. I hope you liked this chapter, if not, well, I'm sure you'll get over it. As usual I hate the end of this chapter, I just feel it isn't written as well as the rest of it, but, oh well, I'll get over it. No crazy long paragraphs in this one, most of it is dialogue unfortunately. Also: I hope that the PoV switches didn't confuse anyone, most were seperated by a scene break, but a couple switched back to Naruto in the middle of a scene, so, yeah, just ask if any of that lost you.


	5. Please Read This, Extremely Important

_**News Update IMPORTANT Regarding my departure from Naruto fanfiction and adoption of things I have written as well as my position in Harry Potter fanon:**_

Ummm...Right, it has been what, two years? Sorry about that. I just can't write Naruto Fanfiction anymore. The manga has killed the idea for me, not because it would particularly end up mattering in anything I wrote, just because whenever I try I can't stop thinking about how retarded the plot has become and how the characters have become. So, any and all of my Naruto stories are up for adoption. Just send me a PM or a review that says you want to adopt one, as well as a the name of what you consider to be your best story in order for me to look over it, and we'll talk about you taking whichever story over.

The other thing I would like to address is my story Maw of the Serpent in the HP category, this is going on indefinite hold (not that it wasn't already, it is just official now). This is for good and multiple reasons. After talking about the idea with several of my friends, I will be doing a complete rewrite of the books, not in an effort to recreate one of the various clichés (Slytherin!Harry in the case of MotS) but simply to correct everything that I personally found wrong with the books (and I realize that many people have done this) including Rowling's many inconsistencies. I may or may not post this depending on what kind of response I get from both my friends and those of you that read my stories, there will be a poll up tonight about whether or not I should post it. This is something I actually plan to finish (amazing, isn't it?) simply due to the amount of work I'm putting into it, unlike my other stories that I just sat down and started writing at impulse.

Sincerely (and somewhat regretfully),

Takeno no Hikari


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